Broken By The Past
by The-Young-Volcano O.o
Summary: Alice's Hallucinations could one day come to life and destroy mankind before the Apocalypse. The eldest horseman, Death, had been assigned to help Alice either fix or destroy Wonderland once and for all... this is a NEW version, and I think its better than the original. I encourage you to read it if you were a fan of the original. :)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And now I introduce you to the edit of the very first fanfiction that I have ever created! DUN DUN DUN. The first version was so terrible, it was actually comical. If you'd like to compare, it's still up on under Darksiders Alice Madness Returns crossovers. I posted this one here to see which people would like more. So, Leave a review if you'd like, it helps me out a lot! Thanks guys! ^_^**

…

_"Sometimes the curiosity can kill the soul but leave the pain,  
and every ounce of innocence is left inside her brain.  
And through the Looking Glass we see she's painfully returned,  
But now off with her head is everyone's concern._

_You see there's no real ending,  
It's only the beginning,  
So come out and play…"_

_-Her name is Alice, Shinedown_

**X-**

My eyes were locked onto the bleach white ceiling of my broken reality. Nothing was on my mind in particular. Just a few scattered thoughts as I switched in and out of consciousness. My mind was in pieces and I couldn't focus on anything. Though I remember feeling a sense of comfort, with no one to force information out of me to try and make me "forget".

But all I really wanted to do was forget, forget the hell that I've lived in for so damn long...

"Alice?" I heard one of my nurses voice come from the door of my room. "Come, dear. Doctor Bumby is ready for you."

I nodded, getting out of my bunk. I headed down the hall into Bumby's office. "Alice, always a pleasure. Sit down," He said, gesturing me to the wooden chair next to his desk. I was staring intently at the candle that was sitting on his desk next to a dark red booklet. He saw me staring at it and quickly blew it out. As soon as I sat down, he started asking me about anything new lately.

"No." I replied blankly.

"Alright," He replied. "Let's try something new today, shall we?" I didn't answer. I saw Bumby dig into his pocket for an old, rusty key. It looked strangely familiar, but I knew that I've never seen it before. He took it out and started to swing it in front of me. I began to zone out of reality and into a nightmare.

I watched as the key doubled, then tripled, and so on. Everything else but the hundreds of keys went black. "Come now Alice, it's only a dream." I heard Bumby say as the visions keep running throughout my mind.

I tried to reply calmly. "I-it's not a dream, it's a memory… and it makes me sick!"

He ignored my outburst. "Now, focus. Wait… You're floating again. Weightless, a cipher… relax…" He said slowly and soothingly. As soon as he finished his sentence, I saw Cards fighting throughout the land, flames rising and rising.

"Fire… I-I'm in hell!" I panicked. Bumby was doing his best to keep me calm while I saw the Queen of Hearts, looking back at me with a vicious half- smile.

"Forget it!" He ordered. Abandon that memory. It's unproductive. Go… to Wonderland."

"I can't. I…I'm trapped… In my _past…"_ My voice cracked with every word. Some of my memories began to come back, but Bumby forced me not to think about it.

"No, Alice! Discard that delusion! Forget it. Go to Wonderland."

"I'd rather not Doctor. My Wonderland's shattered… I-It's dead to me."

"Your preference does not signify, girl. Now, Alice. Where are you?" I then saw myself on a boat in a river with the White Rabbit. We both had tea in our hands, smiles on our faces, and I looked generally happy.

"I'm sailing," I described it to Bumby. "with a friend. Hmmm, it's different somehow. Things have changed."

"Change is good. It's the first link in the chain of forgetting." He said. I suddenly saw Rabbit beginning to twitch rapidly.

"W-what's happening? Are you mad?" I questioned.

"I'm not mad." Bumby told me.

"Rabbit…?"

"That's not right, what's he doing there?" The rabbit began to twitch more and more until blood began pouring out of his mouth. My eyes widened slightly.

"Is something wrong?!" I asked, becoming more and more desperate for an answer.

"Something wrong? R-r-r-rather…" Rabbit finally spoke and when he did, his eye popped out of its socket and then began to malfunction, like a machine. Finally, his head came right off of his neck, and the decapitation sprayed me with a pool of blood. It came and came, the warm and dense liquid running down my arms and legs.

"Oh no," I choked out. "Not this…." Finally the White Rabbit's blood turned thicker and blacker on my pale skin, and the water we were sailing on turned into the sticky substance as well.

"Don't struggle, Alice. Let the new Wonderland emerge." Bumby said in a calm voice. I began to see arms emerge out of the murky water. They were dolls arms, and the decapitated heads came with them in blobs of oil that came out of the thick water. I was completely terrified as my face began to disintegrate under the hot oil. I felt my cheek bones beginning to pop out.

"Pollution! _Corruption! _It's killing me… W-Wonderland is destroyed… My mind is in ruins!" I screamed- unsure if the message was for Bumby or myself- as the dolls hands grabbed me out of the boat and under the tar.

"Forget it Alice!" Bumby said, clearly getting frustrated. "Block that dream! Wake at the sound."

The nightmare ended. I was back into Bumby's office, sitting back in the wooden chair trying to soak up all of the information that I just endured.

"There Alice. Better now aren't we?" Bumby walked over and looked out the window as I leaned forward, burring my face into my hands.

"My head's exploded and there is a steam hammer in my chest…" I snapped.

"Yes, well, the cost of forgetting is high."

"My memories make me vomit. What can I-?"

"Remember. Other. Things." He distinctively separated each word.

"I want to forget! Who would choose to be _alone,_ imprisoned by their broken memories?!"

"I'll set you free, Alice. Memory is a curse more often than a blessing."

"So you have said, many times, and-"

"-And I will say again. The past must be paid for… now. Before our next session, collect those pills from our high street chemist." He told me, gesturing me to leave the room. I stood up slowly and as I opened the door to leave, I saw a little boy enter.

"It's my turn to forget, Alice!" The boy chirped.

"Now, Charlie," Bumby said to the little boy as he walked over to the doctor. I looked at him with sadness in my eyes as Bumby explained, "Your Pa was hung for killing your Ma who beat you. Let's forget that, shall we? The past… is _dead,_ Charlie…"

xxxxxxxx

I walked down the steps of the asylum, listening to the other children laugh at me. Saying things like, "Ten years in the Looney bin. No ma, no relations, she's an orphan." Or, "Mad as a hatter, without the charm…"

I ran out the door and was greeted with the busy streets of London. People were talking on the streets, construction was being done. As soon as I passed a butchers stand with a man ripping the head off a pig, I looked in front of me and saw a scrawny white cat looking around for scraps of food.

"Hello puss." I greeted the cat as I slowly took a few steps forward, trying not to scare it off. "Puss, puss, puss, puss! Don't be afraid." It ran from me, so I decided to follow it down into an alley. "'Seems following furry creatures into dark holes has become a habit. I hope it's not a vice." I quietly said to myself. Then the cat went through a tunnel, and then from there I lost the cat. I was alone, and I began to hear something like a clicking noise. _Click. Click._

I turned back, and I saw a man. Not really a man, more of an _it. _With the body of a human and the face of a deranged, rotting, green rabbit, it moved towards me._ Click. Click. Click._ Its eyes were the color of the sun and the iris' were absent. It was bald and wore an old ripped leather jacket. I began to back away from the vile creature, and then I bumped into another that looked just like the first. One by one, more appeared. They crept closer and closer and soon one of them put his bony hand on my shoulder.

_Click. _

I turned and I saw an older lady with a profound nose and small glasses that rested on it. "My stars and garters, Alice Liddell! Slumming again, are we?" She said with a cheery, yet equally terrifyingly sweet voice.

"Nurse Witless," I began. "What luck… twice in as many months."

"Out on your own. You look frazzled dear… not doing well?"

"…not really." I replied.

"Come along home, then, and look at my pigeons. Pretty birds, like you."

"I don't think so... our last visit cost me several pounds and got me nowhere."

"I might recall where your mangy rabbit got to." Nurse Witless told me, referring to my favorite stuffed animal from my childhood. This definitely persuaded me. I decided to go back to her house with her, meeting her on her rooftop. From up here, London looked more damaged then my mind. The sky was dull and gray, smoke coming out of every single chimney from peoples' fireplaces. The pollution caked the sky as did the oxygen. I slowly walked over to Nurse Witless with my eyes on the town and began to question her.

"Nurse Witless, do you mean to harm me? To send me back to the asylum?"

"I won't say no… I've a thirst you could photograph…" I didn't reply, only raised an eyebrow. "Need a drink…" She said, her voice getting strangely deep. She turned around and then spoke again. "More than my whistle needs whetting." I saw wings break out of her back, and she turned around. Her face was a pale pink, she was bald- now looking more like the strange creatures I encountered earlier- and her hands became claws that lunged towards me. I began to back up, and I heard the ground I stood on crack. Finally, with a finishing snap, the rooftop collapsed.

I fell into a blue abyss, seeing gears and clocks pass me by as I fell. Then it began to darken, with dolls heads in sticky oil as I saw in my dream. But right before I lost my sight of this hole I was falling into, I saw a man falling next to me. I couldn't make out any of his features besides the bright eyes that seemed to be stirring with magma and fire.


	2. Chapter 2

I was floating, looking at my Wonderland. It didn't seem so bad at the moment. There were beautifully elegant trees, the leaves floating off and gracefully falling on the ground. A river was separating me from another path on the other side, and it ended to my right and flowing into oblivion. The sky was clear blue, basically the exact opposite of London. Dominoes and jacks were floating in the sky like clouds. I looked down and I saw that I was wearing a blue dress with a white apron that was splattered with blood and a necklace that had a horseshoe on it. I grabbed the charm of the necklace and ran my fingers over it, which made it look like it was shining brighter. I thought about Nurse Witless.

"Very upsetting Journey," I said aloud, thinking no one would hear me. "But I'm rid of Pris, or whatever she's become." Pris is her first name. Or _was._ "At least the place I have landed is somewhat familiar…"

"It's about time too, Alice." I heard the Cheshire cat's voice appear out of nowhere, and then I turned around and saw him.

"Blasted cat! Don't try to bully me. I'm very much on edge." I snapped, watching as the cat glanced behind me and snarled. He then looked back at me.

"Perfect. When you're not on edge, you're taking up too much space."

"You're _no_ help at all."

"But you know I can be..."

"I'll frighten myself when necessary, thanks very much. I was hoping to escape from all that." I sighed in exasperation.

"Abandon that hope! A new law reigns in this Wonderland, Alice. It's very rough justice all around. You, be on your guard." He said as he disappeared, leaving a gold lining that soon was wiped away with the wind.

_Oh great, _I thought. _More time spent in my shattered Wonderland._

"So, this is the place that I've heard so much about." I heard a dark, raspy and somewhat soothing voice say. My breath got caught in my windpipe. "It doesn't seem like it would be destructive in any way." I spun around to see who spoke.

Then I saw him.

At first, my eyes caught sight of the figures' abnormally thin stomach. I could see his ribs, but he still had profound abs. The man was seven feet tall, at the _least,_ which made me feel awkward compared to my five foot- ten self. And I thought _I_ was tall. My eyes traveled up, and I met his beautiful eyes. They were so orange, like the irises were literally made out of magma. They were cold and spiteful for only a second, but then they became softer. I didn't know why. And the slightly intimidating part was that his eyes were the only feature of his I saw. The rest of his face was made of _bone. _His skin was sickly gray, and was so tight around his bones that it looked like if you even moved it, it would split open. Though, he was still incredibly muscular, enough to make any other man jealous. Incased in his thin fingers were two scythes, one for each hand. I would have been frightened, but I knew that he wasn't real. He couldn't be.

"And who am I speaking with _now? _Another crazed figment of my imagination, I presume?_"_

"Sorry to disappoint you. But I'm not an illusion." That's when I saw his jaw move. It was only a mask. I felt slightly relieved.

_Right. _"What are you doing here?"

"Just enjoying the scenery." He replied sarcastically.

"Lovely. Now why are you _actually _here?"

"I was assigned to come here by the Charred Council to make sure your hallucinations don't destroy the Third Kingdom."

"Third Kingdom? Charred Council?" I was utterly confused. "Please start making some sense so I can continue on my way."

He sighed. "Apparently I'm going to have to explain this word for word. The Third Kingdom is the humans. The Charred Council is the _boss_ of all three kingdoms." He spoke slowly, probably because I had a mental problem. "They sent me here to make sure that you fix this place. If it continues on, your delusions could come alive and destroy mankind before its appointed date. I have to make sure you kill the source."

_...I don't believe this man._ I thought. _H_e's_ not making any sense… though, I could use some help… he will probably end up killing me… and I'm okay with that. _"Then what are we waiting for?" I said without any sign of emotion in my eyes. "Though, would you be so kind and tell me your _name?_"

"A Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death."

I nodded. "A Horseman,"

"Yes."

"Of the Apocalypse…" I nodded, though I still didn't believe any of those lies. "I thought your name might be somewhere along those lines. Nice to meet you, Death…" I never thought I would say those words. It felt strange.

I didn't wait for him. I just began walking, and after a few minutes he caught up and tried to make conversation. "So, Alice." He hissed the words, but didn't sound dangerous whatsoever. "What got you to this terrible state of mind?" he gestured one scythe out to Wonderland.

"And _why_ should I tell you that?"

"Well, if I am going to be exploring this place, I thought it would be good to know what created it. I'm one to want to know the history of my surroundings."

"I think you need to earn my trust for me to tell you that." I said in almost a whisper, followed by a wave of guilt.

He wouldn't take his eyes off of me, and that alone made me feel uncomfortable. "Very well," he agreed, almost tripping over a step into the shallow water since he wasn't paying attention very well. We walked in silence, his eyes bored into me until we approached a mushroom right before a wall that was blocking our way. I walked over to it and Death thrust his scythe into the wall and began climbing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"What other way are we going to get over this?"

I rolled my eyes and jumped onto the mushroom. It brought me all the way up to the top of the cliff, like a trampoline. I then turned around and laid down on the cliff, looking at Death.

"Well, you could have told me it was _that _easy." He said, looking at the spring. Finally he jumped onto it and it tossed him up on top of the cliff. Once he hit the ground, I couldn't tell if he landed or not. It was more of a crouch, with his left leg extended beside him and his right leg bent at a ninety-degree angle. He held his scythes behind him in an attacking stance, and he was so far crouched down that the tips of his oily raven black hair touched the grass.

"What are you staring at?" he said with a slight chuckle as he reattached the scythes to his belt.

"Oh! N-nothing." I murmured, standing up and continuing on our way. We soon approached a large bottle spilling a purple liquid into a pool. He stopped and looked at it in confusion, but I walked toward it and spoke to myself.

"I've been down this road before. Good things in small packages?" The Cheshire cat appeared and Death drew his scythes. The Cat tried to talk to me, but was alarmed by Death's reaction.

"Well, Reaper," He taunted with his signature grin. "I'm only a Cat. What am _I_ going to do to _you?"_

"Possibly annoy me to death." He muttered. And I almost smiled at that. _Smiled._ I don't do that. This couldn't be good.

"Anyways…" the cat returned his attention to you're lacking a bathing suit, a plunge in that pool is in order." he said. I waded in until it was up to my knees, saturating my striped leggings. I put both of my arms up and watched as the purple fluid ran down my arms and soaked into my dress. I felt like my entire body went numb as my height began to decrease.

"My God, I'm shrinking in this potion! S-shall I disappear?" I said with slight panic in my voice as the purple reached my waist. I turned around and looked at Death, who had kept his scythes in his hands and took a few steps forward in an almost protective manner. Why? I couldn't tell.

_"Almost._ But the upside is that while small, you can see things that are nearly invisible to your bigger self." The cat explained.

"Ah, I get it, quite. Forests for the trees, just the other way around. Short-sighted is a matter of perspective." I replied as Death and I regained our normal size.

"Well, we should carry on," Death said, giving the Cheshire cat a smug look. He hissed and then disappeared. We walked toward a key hole that I thought might be just the size for me to fit through. At the thought, I shrunk and looked around. Though I was snapped out of my focus and regained my normal size when Death threw his scythe forward. I flinched and took a few steps back. With a flick of his wrist, he ripped the scythe from the wall and it collapsed. I looked at him in astonishment, and I heard a chuckle emerge from his throat. After climbing over the rubble, we approached another mushroom. Death extended out his hand in a gesture for me to go.

"Ladies first." He teased. I nodded and sprang onto the mushroom. Death soon followed. After he destroyed a few more walls to refrain from having to find another path to get around, we walked into a room only to find a mushroom like before, only this time it was blue.

"Ladies first." I told Death with a serious tone, though we both knew it was a joke.

He looked at me with playful eyes, and I had to bite the inside of my lower lip to keep myself from laughing. Iactually _wanted _to laugh. _What. The. Hell?!_ I thought.

Death jumped onto the blue mushroom, me following right behind him. At the top of the cliff where the blue mushroom took us, there was a slide that was made out of a long twisted chalkboard with different writings on them.

"We are supposed to go down this?" Death asked casually.

Well of course," I replied. "How else will we get down to our next destination?"

"Very well." He said again, rubbing his fingers together. He looked at me and gestured me to go. I just returned the gaze and- for the first time in _years_- smiled. Before he knew it, I shoved him down the slide, and then followed, making sure to be out of striking distance.

"I'm going to get you for that!" Death exclaimed. I just kept smiling and slid. There was a drop off at the end. We both landed on our feet, looking at a river, just like before, but instead blood replaced water. "Now _that's _more like it." Death said as his eyes widened.

"You're strangely idiotic. Let's go." We began to wade through the river of blood and soon came across a skeleton. I looked at it, and I instantly knew what it was.

"Jabberwock…" I whispered. It couldn't still be here. It was the Jabberwocky's body from when the Gryphon and I killed him long, _long_ ago. He took Gryphon's life…

"What is it?" Death heard me.

"I-It's nothing…" I said, leaving Death behind and running up to the Jabberwocky's carcass. As I got closer I saw that damned _knife_ imbedded into his ribcage.

"The Vorpal Blade is swift and keen, and always ready for service." The Cheshire cat said, grinning like usual. Then the Blade broke itself out of the Jabberwocky's torso and gracefully flew into my hand.

"I did not come back here looking for a fight." I said strictly.

"Really?" Cat said sarcastically. "That's a pity, because one is_ certainly_ looking for you."

"Oh, good!" Death exclaimed. "I was wondering what you wielded. Now you can become the greatest badass in Wonderland! Or second greatest badass…" He winked at me and broke out his scythes. That time I really couldn't hold back my laugh. I let it last a while, since I haven't laughed in so long. It felt _good._

"Sure, go ahead and declare yourself that with your scythes."

"Hey, call it Harvester." He said, somehow putting the two scythes back into one. "I bet you wouldn't like it if I called the Vorpal blade a 'fancy bloody dagger.'" He said teasingly.

"Let's go." I chuckled.

We walked through a tunnel and approached a room with oil all over the floor. The ground shook and the oil puddles began to transform into a monster. It had a doll face and dolls arms with some kind of smoking machinery coming out of his head.

"Wow," Death said. "You have a _twisted _mind."

I just looked at him. "Watch and learn, 'Horseman'." I turned to the monster and began to slash at it with the Vorpal Blade. It began to make streaks in the air in the ways that the blade traveled. Bu I knew that if the creature has a flame come out of his head from one of the pipes, I knew he was ready to strike, so I moved out of the way.

"Interesting…" I heard him say. As soon as the creature died, a few more spawn out of the oil.

"Your turn," I taunted. I saw Death take out his dual scythes and begin to slice the monster. It actually took longer to kill for him because whenever it had the time to strike, he didn't move out of the way; he just kept slashing at it and let the claws dig into his skin, though no blood came flowing out of the cuts and he didn't acknowledge them.

"What _are_ those?" Death asked me with slight annoyance in his tone.

"Insidious Ruin… Don't worry, there is a _lot_ worse than that to come."

"That's good. I'm up for the challenge that is your insanity."


	3. Chapter 3

Death and I kept walking in silence, only saying a few words every so often. We finally approached a large cavern, at least two hundred feet across to the next platform. I just backed up so I could jump across, but Death put his hand out and over the top of my chest to keep me from doing so- the first physical contact we had made.

"You're going to jump across _that_?" He asked like it was a strange thing.

"Of course I am. It's not a problem. "I said as I sidestepped and got ready to jump.

"No," He insisted, grabbing my arm.

"Why do _you _care?" He didn't answer me, so I sighed. "How are we supposed to get across then?" He never let go his grip on my arm, so all he had to do was tug me back a few feet and get into a stance. "What are you-" I started as he threw me on his back and began to run forward with his arm extended. Then I saw a turquoise flame come out of the cool green grass, then a figure that looked like a sickly horse. And that's exactly what it was. The horse's flesh was ice pale, like Death's, but this nauseating creature had rotting flesh that covered his exposed ribcage. He had a very ragged saddle that Death and I sat in, and a face that looked like it was rotting away as well. Once he was ready, horse and rider- and me- jumped off of the cliff, landing safely on the other side.

I got right off of the saddle and began examining the horse. "That is… _sick!_" I hissed.

"Thank you."

"Ass..." I said under my breath.

"…I told you I would get you for pushing me onto that slide!" He joked.

"At least _warn_ me when you do that next time," I said. "Just to annoy you again, guess what I'm going to do?"

"What-" Before he could finish his sentence, I was running towards the edge of the cliff, heading towards the next spot we needed to get to.

"Alice, No!" He ordered.

_Why do you care? You're Death! _I thought as I jumped off and then using the air to push off and jump again. I did that several times until I got to the other side. He summoned his horse to get to the other side. Before he hit the ground, he banished the horse and landed.

"Damn you!" Death snarled. "You scared me half to-"

"Half to _Death_?" I said with a teasing voice.

He chuckled in his deep voice, "You're_ hilarious,_ really."

"Not until they see my true side." I taunted, even though there was a lot of truth to that comment.

"Not at all," He said. "You're unique." I didn't know how to reply, not everyone gets a complement from the Grim Reaper. "Unique enough to scare people away… but that's okay. My _name_ scares people away."

"Not me," I smiled and punched him in the arm but hid the pain. His skin was tough as _nails_. As soon as I said that, we arrived at a drop-off. Death and I jumped down at the same time and we walked into a house that had pale blue diagonal stripes on the walls and checkerboard tiles on the floors. There was a woman standing there stirring the substance that was in a hot pot on a stove. At least, my mind just knew that she was female, but anyone else would think otherwise. Her hair was a dark auburn, but most of it was pulled back in a tall blue hat marred with elegant designs on the sides. She was wearing pounds of makeup, and in my opinion, it made her look worse. She had a double chin that was almost hidden by the folds in her face. A tight, low-cut dress was wrapped around her from the shoulders down, though that didn't help hide the fact that she was obese. The Duchess.

"Hello, Sir," Death chukled. I stepped on his foot to see if I could shut him up, but it didn't work. "Oh, wait. It's just another Drag queen. Damn, Alice, you can really dream up some _random _things." I laughed but then stopped because I remembered our previous conflict when I blew her head off.

"Well, that's certainly a _warm_ greeting." She said with a light cheery voice.

"I was expecting you to have a deep voice like mine! You're good at impersonating a woman." He said.

She rolled her eyes and took her attention off Death, turning to me. "Ah, it's you again, Alice! You may approach."

"Why would I want to do that? You want to eat me." I said.

Death whispered something unintelligible under his breath. "Yes, well she taught me manners-" She paused, looking at Death. "And I have lost my taste in mad women; strictly a porcine diet for me. Everything's better with bacon, don't you agree-? of course you do. Now there is pig snouts scattered about. I heard a few behind the house; go fetch them for me. But take care of the pests that block your way. Pepper them up if they do… I would consider this _man_ to be under my list of _pests._"

Death looked at the Duchess with blank eyes. "So, a diet? I honestly don't think it will help, sweets."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll find that grinder serviceable." She said while pointing at a pepper grinder on her counter.

"Why not season your own pig parts?" I asked.

"Matter of priorities. My alabaster skin needs protection from the disgusting creatures running amok amidst the environs. But one gets-"

Death cut her off. "That's enough, we get it," He snapped. "You are just like my sister, always running your mouth."

"Just go," she pressed. I grabbed the Pepper Grinder and we walked out of the door the rest of the way silent. Once we got outside I collapsed from laughter.

"You idiot!" I gasped. "She almost ate me!"

"Hey it's not my fault; she needs to work out her 'alabaster skin.'"

I laughed so hard that I kicked Death and he fell over with me. "What was that for?"

"It's called karma." I said as I looked at him. "It'll bite back sometimes when you use too much sarcasm." We just laid there for a while. Whenever we made eye contact, we would stop for a moment but start laughing again. Death had a look of happiness in his fiery eyes as we laughed, a look I thought the Grim Reaper would _never _have. After a few minutes, I heard thuds that lead me away from Death's gaze. I sat up, and saw a chunk of metal that I instantly knew what it was. I stood up and drew my new Pepper grinder.

"What the hell is that going to-" Death's comment was cut off by the sound of the gunfire from the grinder shooting out all of the Bolter flies. Death took care of the nests and once there was no more, I looked at him and blew away the smoke coming from the tip.

"Very funny," He taunted.

"Best be on our way then!" I chirped. We walked up a steep hill, listening for snouts. We heard one after a few minutes of searching.

"Was that what we're looking for, or was that that Duchess?" he asked.

"Maybe both." I replied, and we shared a laugh. Then I looked around and saw a snout floating, and I crept closer. Then as soon as I could, I took a shot. It took a quite a few shots to finally get him to fly all the way back to the Duchess' headquarters.

We walked into a huge section with more bolter flies and Insidious ruin's, but we killed them off easily. There was another gap. Death summoned his horse to get across, and I just jumped across. I looked at the statue that was before me on the other side. It was a snow globe that had a stone turtle in it. He was holding a map and he had a sailor's cap on.

"Mock Turtle," Death read. "Lost at sea. Who's this?"

"A… old friend. Hmm..." I replied, gazing at the statue.

There was another gap, but it was too long for Death to jump because there only were a few platforms. "Despair can't fit on that."

"Fitting name for your horse." I replied. No answer. "How are you supposed to get across then?"

"I only have one other way."

"Well, what's that then? We can easily just use that if-"

"…Close your eyes and don't open them until I say so." He said, cutting me off.

"What? Why?" I questioned.

"The only way to get across now is by revealing my true form in which I _do not _want you to see. Now close your eyes." He pressed. I didn't answer, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I felt Death's arm wrap around me as he lunged into the air. Before I know it, we were on the ground on the other side of the cavern. I opened my eyes and saw a violet path on the across the cavern.

"Interesting." I mocked. Death and I turned around to find another puddle of oil. We saw figures come out of it, but they were too small to be Insidious Ruin's.

"Slithering Ruin," I warned Death. We began tearing them down, back into puddles. From the corner of my eye, I saw one strike him in the shoulder. I quickly killed the rest of them and walked over to Death.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," He replied. "Damn, they can jump _high._"

I laughed. "Let's go,"

We walked up to a scene where we saw a cavern that just broke into pieces. Oil came shooting out the cavern, and the sky got slightly darker.

Death looked at me. "That's amazing." I didn't know what to say, so I smiled somewhat awkwardly. There were stepped that we followed to the other side of the canyon. We kept walking through and we got to a huge cherry tree. It fell and of course Death wasn't paying attention, so I had to get him out of the way.

"Move!" I hollered as I tackled him to the ground.

"What in the nine hells are you-? Oh, I'm sorry," He chuckled as we watched the tree collapsing.

"Yeah," I said, laughing.

"Very well then. Now will you get off of me?" He joked. I realize I was still pinning him down to the floor.

"Sorry," I said while grinning then standing up. _Idiot,_ I thought to myself._ Nice going._

We kept walking and we entered a space with old railroad tracks embedded into the ground. There was a railroad station and a train that looked like it had been there for a century. As soon as we walked toward it, the train began to fall off into oblivion.

"Hatter always hated mechanical malfunctions." I told Death. "This is probably his doing or his epitaph." There were a few more mushrooms to get across to a tunnel with railroad tracks into the ground. Death began to run, so I ran after him. "Hey, wait a minute!" I yelled. Death stopped for a second and then grabbed my arm. He continued without comment. Then he jumped, and we landed on another slide. It wasn't as long, but it was hilarious while it lasted. Once we reached the end, neither one of us landed on our feet; I landed on top of Death. Either way, I was laughing too hard to get up. After minutes of sitting, laughing, I rolled off of Death's chest where I was laying and I stood up.

"Come on," I said, still laughing.

"Damn, I didn't think it would be that easy to make a madwoman _laugh."_ He taunted.

"'Damn' I didn't think it would be that easy to make the Grim Reaper _laugh._" I mimicked.

He chuckled. We kept walking until we reached another drop-off. We both jumped, and then heard something. I drew the Vorpal Blade, and Death drew Harvester as we watched a different kind of creature approach. All of that creature's skin was a sickly green- much like Despair's- and his hat was a broken cup of tea. He held a fork in his hand, ready to strike. I got out the pepper grinder and shot at them, but they kept dodging out of my way.

Death heard me and then went to attack the thing, cutting his head off in one slice. He then stood harvester on its handle and flicked the blood off, mocking me. "Yes, you're hilarious." I mumbled. He ran up to me and grabbed my neck with his forearm, pulling my head closer so he could ruffle my hair. He let me go and we kept walking and saw a lot of violets growing out of the hard ground, and a drop off leading to an abyss close by. I then saw the Cheshire cat appear. But, apparently, Death saw him before I did.

"Got any new life-saving information for us?" Death said sarcastically.

He ignored him at first. "Lost and don't know where to go? Try using Shrink where the violets' grow." As he faded away, I faintly heard one more word meant for Death. "Smartass…"

Death and I followed Cat's words and we shrunk. There was a path overtop the cavern that was chalk purple. We jumped on and ran to the other side of the gap, then continued on our way. There was a large open area, with a side opening that we needed to get to.

"Hop on." I heard Death say, already on Despair's back.

"I didn't even hear-"

"Yes, I know. You will learn that I'm very… _sneaky,_ on our journey." He said. I don't know why, but I smiled at that. _Our journey._ I hopped on Despair's back, and we rode over to the next spot. There was a horn there that I'm guessing I had to blow. I looked at Death right before I did.

"What are you looking at me for? I'm not going to do it…" He said, pointing at his mask.

"I know. Just checking to see if you had any comments." I blew the horn. It made an extremely loud noise that summoned some kind of cable car. It sat itself down in the open space, and then the stairs unwound. Death and I stepped in, and we began riding towards a new place.

"The Hatters Domain. Almost as I remember it." I said.

The Cheshire cat came into the car with us. "Appearances, as you know better than most, _can_ be deceiving, Alice. Much has changes since your last visit."

"Dr. Bumby says that chance is constructive. That different is good."

"Different denotes neither bad nor good, but it certainly means 'not the same'. Find the Hatter, Alice and Death. He knows more about 'different' then you two do."

"But does he know more about the difference between bad and good?" I pressed. Once I said that, Bolter flies began slamming their iron heads into the thick glass, breaking it as Death drew Harvester from his tattered belt.

"Making friends you two? Alice, you're as randomly lethal and entirely confused as you ever were." He said, making me tense.

_Damn it. _I thought. "Death and I have managed without you so far, cat. Return to whatever hovel's home to you. I will call you when I need you.

"It's not a question of if, Alice, it's_ when._ Now hold on, and as they say, 'shut up.' The rusty old cable car broke into the wall of the Hatters Domain, leaving it to dust.


	4. Chapter 4

Death and I were surrounded in a cloud of dust and pieces of broken bricks. I saw a vent, blowing a foggy gray fog shooting it upwards towards where the cable car landed on an upper ledge. I stood up and dusted myself off. Death turned away from me, taking his mask off for a brief second to get the dust out of his blazing eyes. His face was blacked out though, but before he set the mask over his face, he glanced over to me with lusty eyes, and I would have _sworn _that I saw the outline of a smile on his face. I couldn't tell. He put his mask back on and walked out of the darkness.

"Hello," He finally said. My voice was caught in my throat, so I just smiled and looked down. We walked to the edge where the vent was, and I was ready to jump on. The force of the vent would catch my dress, taking me upward. I jumped on, and got to the top. I laid on my stomach, looking over the edge and saw Death looking up at me with a puzzled look in his eyes. He put a hand over the air, but quickly retracted it.

"That's hot." He said with a nonchalant tone. "You're stronger then I considered."

"Yes, well…"

"Hold your hand out." He told me. "I have an idea."

"You will be able to reach, Death." He didn't answer, but I saw a faint purple smoke surround his hand. The smoke grew and grew, only surrounding his wrist. He pulled his arm back, like he was going to throw something. He unwound his arm, extending the flame up to my hand. The flame formed its own hand, grabbing onto mine. Death hoisted himself up once he knew that I had a grip on his "hand". He sprang upward, and landed safely on the ledge as the purple smoke faded. I looked at him, questioned.

"It's my Death Grip."

"Of course it is," I said sarcastically. "You know there is at the very least a _dozen_ times we could have used that?"

"I have a few tricks under my sleeve." He replied.

"Even though you're shirtless, and don't _have_ any sleeves," I joked, walking along right beside him out of the place where we crash landed.

I saw him chuckle, shaking his head. "Very observant of you, Alice." We walked out of the place, and we saw a rusty valve. "I bet it will be in command of the vent there," Death said, pointing to a dormant vent. He went over and turned the valve, and billows of hot air flooded out of it. I jumped on, landing on the other side. I held my hand out, letting Death use his Death Grip it so he could get to this side. This time, he landed closer than I thought he would, and stayed there for a while. His arm wrapped around my torso, pulling me closer. I ignored my mind, which was screaming for me to back away. Right at that moment, I heard a snarl coming from an armed madcap, and Death released his grip on my waist as he drew Harvester. He tried to strike it, but it blocked his attack with its fork. Death then turned his split Harvester in a way that pierced the Madcap's torso all the way through. He then used the scythes as a push off, flipping over the dead creature then flinging it over the balcony.

"That's amazing!" I finally said.

"Why thank you, love," He said, mocking my British accent.

We kept hiking through the Hatters domain. We soon came upon a large arena, checkered on the floor with boiling hot tea flooding around it. Death and I jumped down, and then took notice of the chandelier above us. A creature was crawling down the chain. It dropped from the chandelier and dropped to the center of the arena. It was a gold teapot, elegant designs marring every inch with one bloodshot eye in the center. It stood on three legs that were sharply painted at the tips, ready to strike at us.

Death took out his scythes and began to run after the creature. Out of the nose of the Eyepot, boiling hot tea flew right at where Death was running. Before I could react, I saw him slide right underneath it on his back before being singed. I just watched him as he broke into another sprint. Death started striking the Eyepot's top.

"Death!" I hollered. He didn't peel his attention from the creature. I rolled my eyes, drawing the Vorpal Blade. I walked up to it, which had its attention on Death, and I drove the Vorpal Blade into the blood red iris of the creature, killing it.

"Well I'll be damned." He said, shocked. "I'll remember that one next time." I smiled at him.

More Eyepot's came, and we killed them without much effort. We entered a room, heard some somewhat wise words from the Cheshire cat and then continued on. We walked for some time, just occasionally stopping to talk. We soon got to a room with a corpse in it. We walked up to it, and I instantly knew who it was. He was murmuring to himself, his head lying next to his body.

"Hatter, I recall leaving you in a _decrepit_ condition, but not in pieces." I said with a concerned tone.

"What, what? Oh, it's you…" He said with a really high-pitched annoying voice.

"I as well!"

"What happened here?" I said, laughing at the Horseman. "You've lost your hat and some…parts are missing."

"Missing? Missing indeed. Though, things have been what they are, I barely miss their missing. And as for what has happened, you should know better than I." He explained. "It's your place, after all. I know my place!"

"When did you ever know your place or how to keep it? Now what's going on?" I set the Hatter's head back into its socket on his body. Then the entire ground began to shake, and a loud whistle.

"Aah, _that's_ what's going on!" He exclaimed in a panic. "And around, and up, and down, in my ears, through my eyes, and up my nostrils, down in my gullet, winding through my guts!"

"Papa was very fond of trains. I didn't like them much." I said.

"_Was?_" I heard Death whisper from behind me. I ignored it.

"You won't like this one at all. Nothing like when he Mock Turtle was in charge of the Looking Glass Line. This railroad's a bloody shambles." He could really ramble on about something. "The stink it ferocious; the light, blinding; the noise, Hellacious; the-"

"Ah, quite Hatter. I get the idea; a bad train." I rolled my eyes.

"The world is upside down, Alice! Inmates run the asylum-no offense." He said, looking at Death. "And worst of all, I'm left tea-less." He began to tear up.

"You're a damn _fool!"_ Death yelled, laughing. "Wonderland is in ruins, and you care about _tea?_"

"Alice. Who's _this?_"

I looked over my shoulder back at him, smiling. "Just some stranger." Death crossed his arms playfully as he returned the gaze.

"Unbelievable." Hatter muttered.

"If I do help, Will you help us in return?"

"Cross my heart, if I had one. Find my limbs and toss them down the rubbish chute. Machines will do the rest. Be on our way now, that's a good girl! Or a good girl and an _it." _He hissed.

Death and I walked into an elevator and it shot up, getting us to a new destination. The Clock Face. We got to the top, and I immediately recognized it. It was a huge arena, made out of white shattered glass. In the middle were the Hatter's symbol, and a big puddle of oil. The creature that began growing out of it had three heads that were covered with its dolls arms. This one had more machinery in its head, and it was about three times the size of an Insidious Ruin.

"Damn Menacing Ruin." it looked at us, snarling. "Take out the arms first." I whispered to Death. "They are protecting the heads, its weak spot." Death nodded as he drew Harvester, lunging himself at it. The arms didn't move; Harvester didn't even make a dent. I saw an umbrella at the other side of the arena.

"Where are you going?!" He questioned as I ran to get the umbrella.

"Back up," I told Death. Once he did, the beast reached into the machinery on his head, grabbing a ball of flaming tar.

"It's going to throw it! _Move!"_ Death exclaimed. I was crazy if I didn't hear concern in his voice. I didn't listen to him. The creature threw the ball at me with full force. Right before it came into contact with me, I extended the umbrella that I ran over to get. The ball of tar hit the umbrella and it bounced back, blowing off both the arms of the beast. I then drew the pepper grinder and started shooting at him. One head at a time at different intervals came popping off, breaking against the hard arena floor. As the third head shattered, the oil became a puddle once more. I turned around, looking at Death who was once again standing with his elbow leaning on the handle of Harvester.

"Well, that was entertaining." He said. His voice was so soft, I could barely hear what he was saying. I just smiled and tilted my head down, letting my black hair cover my right eye.

"It looks like I've got some learning to do about Wonderland."

That's when I felt it. That initial feeling where I just thought that I really was warming up to him. I felt it, I knew I did; it churned in my stomach like I had just eaten something that went bad. It stirred in my heart, making the blood pump faster through my veins. It was a feeling where I wanted it more often, yet I hated it at the same time. A feeling that I now yearned for, because I'm not going to lie to myself: I want him. No, what the hell, that sounds too strange. But… I did. It sent a chill sown my spine, and that only grew when he spoke again.

"Alice?"

"W-Wh- Yeah?" I didn't know what to say. He chuckled, pushing his black hair back and out of his face. I smiled as I looked at him.

"Alice!"

That made me jolt. "Huh?"

He took another step closer to me, where we were now a few feet apart. "Is something wrong? You're not responding."

"Oh! N-No, nothing, it's not anything!"

He took a step back again and put his hands out in front of him. "Alright, I was just asking."

That made me laugh hysterically into my hands. He chuckled and tipped his head down, looking at the ground in amusement. We walked toward a building with the words 'Smelling and Regurgitating' embedded on the side. There was a cart that was on a railroad track, leading to a new place.

"Hop in with your fancy Death Grip." I laughed, hoisting myself up into the cart. Once Death and I were in, it began to roll down its tracks. Once we got to the bottom, we walked up a staircase leading to a room with no floor, just scorching hot, boiling magma.

"Hey, it's the color of your eyes." I teased.

"I can't tell if that's a _good _thing or a _bad_ thing."

"It's sure as hell a _unique _thing."

The room only had different platforms that we had to jump on to get to another location. We jumped onto each platform, avoiding the magma. Once we got to the other side, we began walking again. There was a few Eyepot's and Insidious Ruins that we had to fight.

"You try this time." I told him, crossing my arms and chuckling. He went over to the first Eyepot, and stabbed him in the eye, shattering it into pieces. It collapsed, and Death moved on to the Insidious Ruins. He used Harvester to scoop up the oily mess that was the insidious ruin, one on each scythe, and snapping their heads clean off in one cut.

"You're getting better." I joked.

He rolled his eyes. "You're crazy."

"Gee, I wonder _why._" I said sarcastically, my family crossing my mind.

"Okay, then _why?_" He said. I didn't answer him. I didn't want to tell him _just _yet. I turned away.

"C-come on," I stuttered, avoiding the subject. He shrugged, and continued on. We walked for quite a while, an occasional lever. We came to one, and the Cheshire cat came.

"Flip the lever to cool the metal." He said while gesturing his head towards the door. We walked through it, looking at an open space that had an upper balcony with a lever on it. The door we entered in snapped shut, and two Eyepots approached us; one was on the balcony above. I went over and killed it, then watched Death as he used Death Grip to grab onto the Eyepot on the balcony's eye out, lifting him up in the process. I began to take out a few Insidious Ruins that were backing up the previous Eyepot as Death flipped the switch. Instantly, I saw the blistering hot magma cool into a metal rock, lining the floors of the place. When the cooling took place, it made me jump.

"Jumpy?" Death asked me.

"Well, you didn't warn me." I said casually.

"Right. Now get up here."

"I can't jump that high." for some reason, I imagined he was smiling under his mask. I let the thought linger. What _did_ he look like under that mask? Before I realized what he was doing, the amethyst hand came lunging toward me, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me towards him. I struggled and let out a surprised yelp; I wouldn't have landed on my feet if Death wasn't there to keep me standing. His Death Grip faded and he cupped his hands together behind the bottom half of my back, so that even if I wanted to move, I couldn't. He bent his elbows so his hands would retract and result with his body pressed against mine.

"Smooth," I said after at the very least a minute of silence.

"I thought so." He chuckled. After reluctantly letting each other go, we began walking again. A few more bolter flies entered, and we killed them off effortlessly. We kept following our path, walking on the cooled metal land. We got to the end of the tunnel, and there was a large circular room with different platforms on different levels. At the bottom were broken gears, so far down that it looked like sand. Of course, we needed to get to the top. There was a lever at the very end of the platform that we were standing on. I went over and turned it. It lifted a vent out of nowhere, turning it on.

"Interesting." Death said. I smirked at him, and jumped onto the vent. It shot me up, onto the other platform a lot higher up then he was. I held out my hand, giving his Death Grip something to grasp. His smoke hand grabbed mine, lifting him up. There wasn't much of a difference in height for the next one, so I thought I would just jump.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"It's not too far. I can manage." I told him.

"I don't think that's a good-" I jumped, not listening to him. The worst part is that I _didn't _make it. I began falling, without any way of getting back up. I felt a skeleton's hand grab my stomach seconds before I hit the gears at the bottom of the cavern. I looked up to see what it was. A creature that had wings with no skin; the bones were only present. The face was completely blacked out; only white hair underneath a navy blue hood. It had no chest either, only a ribcage covered in the same indigo colored cloth. The creature had no legs; all it had were sheets of the same color fabric running down into a violet mist. The creature took me back to the top, then setting me down and returning to its original form. It was Death. That was the side he didn't want me to see.

"I am sorry," Death told me with regret in his voice. You were about to _die. _I-" I cut him off by lunging my arms around his vast shoulders. His arms wrapped around my waist, hugging me back. I haven't experienced a real one since the night before the fire, eleven years ago.

I finally managed to whisper two words in his ear, "Thank you…"

xxxxxxxx

"You're not scary," I said after a few minutes of silence as we walked.

"Only a fool would face me without fear. Do you consider yourself a _fool?_"

"No, No I don't, because calling yourself a fool is a feeble excuse to underestimate your power."

"And you don't underestimate your power?"

"I never have had the time to."

"That's good, because underestimating your power is a way for an enemy to find your weakness." He told me. "That being said, don't _overestimate _your power either. It's a feeble excuse to people who want to underestimate it."

"Wise words from a wise-ass man." I said, shoving him as we walked along the path that we were heading down. We got to the end and saw another valve, the Cheshire cat sitting on top of it.

"They say a cat has nine lives, Alice, I hope you have as many." He told me. "Reaper, I hope you have _less _many." He rolled his eyes. I walked over to the cat like I was going to pet him, but instead kicked him in his ribcage.

"Damn you, cat!" I yelled as he hissed at me then disappeared.

I heard Death laugh. He walked over to the valve, turning it, to reveal another vent. I prepared to jump. "Oh, no you don't." He said, grabbing my shoulder. "Not a _chance_ you're doing that again."

"Well _how_ then?"

"You don't think I'm frightening? Let's try this one again." He said as he became developed in amethyst smoke. The smoke grew taller and taller around him until his true figure formed, right before my eyes. The figure that saved my life.

"You're amazing!"I hollered, laughing when he picked me up and took me to the other side at the speed of lightning. Once he landed on the other side, his real form faded and he set me down.

"That is definitely something I can enjoy." I stated making Death chuckle.

"You are _very _hard to scare."

"If you knew what I have seen, you wouldn't be surprised." I replied. We kept walking on the other side, fighting off the occasional Eyepot, Insidious Ruin, and Madcap. We finally got to another room filled with scorching melted metal.

"Your presence here is_ unwelcome."_ We heard someone say in a tower that was surrounded with the boiling liquid.

"Dormouse…?" I asked aloud.

"We have a mission to complete, and you are an intolerable annoyance!" she said. "Some like it hot. But _no one_ likes it this hot!" She gestured to the metal that was flowing all around her.

Without any hesitation, we continued on, going to shut off the boiling metal.


	5. Chapter 5

We walked into a room with hole-filled walls and a staircase leading to another valve. I walked up and turned it; it cooled a segment of the molten metal. "Damn." Death muttered.

"I've got the arms you need." She said, her words echoing throughout the room. "Well, strictly speaking. The Hatter needs them. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to crush you!"

Death and I began to walk to our next destination on the solid metal. We cooled the metal in a matter of minutes, making the Dormouse retreat. "A temporary setback! A minor landrace. A trivial impediment! I'll move along now. I'll deal with you _later,_ Alice. You'll never stop our grand plan!"

"What are _your _siblings like?" I questioned after much silence between us, emphasizing 'your' more then I intended. I didn't know why I asked this; maybe it was because I wanted to spark a conversation, so I could listen to him speak. It made me feel strangely content.

"We're not biologically siblings… but being the last of our kind, we treat each other as such."

"W-what do you mean, the last of your kind? What happened to-?"

"My brother, War, is just too damn _stubborn."_ He cut me off, obviously not wanting to talk about it. "But he is the one in the Four that I know the best. My sister, Fury, is definitely the most intimidating."

I giggled at that.

"Although, on the other hand, Strife, my other brother is a _huge_ ass. Really knows how to piss people off. Now, I have a question for you." My heart raced. "Why did you emphasize 'your' when you asked me about my siblings?"

_Damn_ _it!_ I thought. "Um, I'm not sure. I was an only child." I was failing at trying to cover it up. He just looked at me. "…What?"

"Nothing," He chuckled. "Come on."

We climbed up to where the Dormouse was standing, pulled the lever, and Hatter's arms were unattached from its position. The arms fell down the rubbish chute, Death and I close behind. We finally got back to where we fought the Menacing Ruin.

"Where are we heading next?" Death asked me with a hint of sarcasm.

"By the looks of it, Cranking up and Pressing Down." I replied, pointing at a building with the same words carved into the side.

He nodded and met my eyes for a moment. I tensed, making him chuckle and shake his head. I can't hold back my smile. We began walking towards the next structure. We jumped into the same cart on the other side that took us downward into the next section and entered a dark room that was faintly lighted with metal walls. The cart finally stopped, and we got out.

"The dimensions of this desolate tract are unknown to all but the inhabitants." The Cheshire cat told us as he appeared from nowhere.

"Of course," Death muttered. "You know, you should learn to say something that actually _helps_ every once and a while."

"Okay, then. Alice, lose this _thing_ and you will get through this a lot faster."

I walked over and kicked the cat again. "I should lose you every once and a while!" He hissed at me and disappeared.

"I'm sorry," I told Death. "That cat can sure be a pain. Come on," I said. We walked up a black spiral staircase, and saw a gap that both of us could easily cross. Once we got to the other side, we saw gears moving up and down on pedestals, and a door wide open on the other side of the room.

"Don't fall _again_," Death teased.

"You'll have to save me _again_."

He narrowed his eyes playfully and jumped onto the first gear, pulling me alongside of him. We got through the room with no problem; jumping across all of the gears, and going through the door. Once we got through the door, we saw an easy path to cross, only with a metal fist slamming into the path over and over again.

Death developed his hand in lavender colored smoke. He grabbed me by the waist, and used his Death Grip to link into a large podium twisting another gear. We land on top of the rusty cog, and Death re-attached his smoky hand over to a chain that held the door open. There was another door, and once we walked through it. It snapped shut with an Eyepot facing us.

"I have an idea." Death stated. Purple smoke enveloped his hand once more, and he shot it straight at the Eyepot's Eye, ripping it out of its socket with an incredible amount of force. The Eyepot buckled down and expired.

He laughed as I stared at him with a grin. We continued on. We entered a room that had the same metal hands clapping in our path.

I looked at Death, and he had his hand on the bottom of his mask, thinking. I then saw him grab Harvester and extend it to full length, and then very carefully sticking it between the two hands, stopping them. The hands began to malfunction, and soon enough they both fell of their hinges. The hands fell and we continued on our way. We walked through the door leading out of the room with the broken hands, and into another with metal fists slamming into the hard ground. Death stuck Harvester underneath each one, making them break.

"One sturdy weapon," I stated as Death restored it into two weapons just as strong. Eyepots began to surround us, and I ran into one, ripping its eye out. Death took both of his scythes and pierced one blade into each eye of both of the Eyepots; one on each side of him. He removed the scythe from the Eyepot on his left, and flinging the Eyepot on his right scythe over his head into the other.

We kept walking through this place, avoiding metal fists and clapping hands every so often. We finally walked down a staircase and into a room with another pedestal with a room on top. The figure looked like a deformed rabbit being held together with various gears like the Dormouse.

"I'll be damned." I muttered.

"What?"

"Your dogged persistence will be rewarded with _pain!" _The creature spoke.

"The March Hare." I stated to inform the confused Horseman.

"I told you to cease and desist and my warning goes unheeded! So, without regret, you two are about to feel like you're a lobster who's been tossed into a boiling pot!" the March Hare exclaimed.

"I helped you eleven years ago." I muttered as a faint retort. But as soon as I said it, I regretted it.

"_Eleven _years ago?" Death asked, surprised. "How long have you been like this?"

"I-I, don't remember?" I stuttered.

"Alice…"

"L-let's move on, shall we?" I said, avoiding the subject as I walked on, Death following close behind me.

We dodged more fists and hands as we maneuvered through Cranking Up and Pressing Down. We got to a lever and once I pulled it, the Hatter's legs ran faster and faster on its wheel.

"Ah, that's it! I can _feel _it surging!" the March Hare yelled from his room at the top of the pedestal.

"Of course you can." Death mocked as he rolled his eyes, making me laugh. We walked to the top of a long staircase, and we saw more metal clapping hands extended through a long cavern. Death enveloped himself in purple smoke and turned into his true form and grabbed me by the waist, carrying me to the other side as he avoided the clapping hands. Once we got to the other side, a Menacing ruin exploded from a nearby puddle of oil, and a few Eyepots stood behind it.

"Perfect." I said as I got my umbrella out. "You take out the Eyepots. I've got the Menacing Ruin."

Death nodded his head in agreement as he began to attack them. I looked at the Menacing ruin as it grabbed the machinery on its head pulling out a ball of tar. It tossed it at full speed at me. I expanded my umbrella, bouncing the tar back and hitting the Menacing ruin, exposing the heads. I walked up to the vile creature, drawing the Vorpal Blade. It snarled, and an extra tar hand came out of its left side, scratching me in the face.

_"Agh!"_ I yelled in pain as I hit the floor.

"Alice!" Death yelled from across the battlefield as he removed an eye from another Eyepot. He began to work faster to kill them, but I began to get angry.

_No, _I pleaded in my mind. _No, no, no, not now!_ I felt my vision go gray, like the color was sucked out of the world around me. I knew that I just went into Hysteria, the same way that Death revealed his true form. I knew that my entire body went bleach white when I went into a Hysteria, but the only thing that wasn't white were my eyes that turned midnight black with blood spilling out of them. From the corner of my blurry vision, Death killed off the last Eyepot and his eyes moved to mine. I tried to ignore his gaze as I picked up the Vorpal Blade and slashed at the Menacing Ruin. Every time I pierced the creature, a head come off because my power increased when I went into Hysteria. The Menacing Ruin finally collapsed, but I didn't go back to my normal stage.

"You never told me that you…" Death trailed off.

I let my head down in dejection. "I… I don't… um…" Death cut me off by taking another step towards me so his chest was in front of my face. I looked up.

"Have you not seen my Reaper Form?" he asked. "It's a lot worse than that."

"Well at least you don't have blood spraying out your eyes…" I muttered as the Hysteria passed and I let my black hair fall over my right eye. Death took his hand and parted my hair back gently so he could see my face, then leaned down so he was at my level.

"Be quiet." He chuckled with soft eyes, making my face flush red. We continued on. I pulled a lever on the left side of the arena, and it made the Hatter's legs stopped running completely.

"Don't you dare stop!" The March Hare yelled at the legs like it was actually going to do something. "Keep running or so help me I'll…I'll…"

We kept walking. We reached another lever and I pulled it without hesitation.

"No, Stop! That's enough now… Argh, stop your running, you blithering idiots!"

Soon, everything stopped, including the Hatter's legs. "You think you can stop us. The merest truffle! I'll be leaving now. You'll never catch me; don't even try!" The March Hare exclaimed as the floor of his room began to rise, lifting him out of Cranking Up and Pressing Down. Death found a shortcut to where the March Hare stood, and we pulled the lever he was controlling to open the Rubbish Chute. The Hatter's legs fell right in, Death and I following right behind it, so we could reach the Mad Hatter.

"Finally!" Death exclaimed playfully as we landed in the room where the Hatter lay. "Done with those two."

I laughed. "They can be quite a pain."

He nodded. The Hatter was lifted by a gear in his back by a hand. Two more hands came out, grabbing the Hatters arms and sticking them back in their sockets. Then they grabbed his legs, and stuck them to the Hatters body, then setting him down on his feet. Once the machinery set him down, a hand came and set his excruciatingly tall hat on top of his green, scarred head.

"We've finished our work, and you're complete, Hatter. Now, what about this 'damnable' train?" I questioned.

"I feel like a new man!" The Hatter exclaimed. "Or, whatever I am. I feel like an unstrung spring; like an uncoroded gear; like an untarnished piece of metal that _sticks_ in your eye!"

"Answer me, Hatter. I-I'm…" I was about to say suffering, but Death was standing right next to me. "Changes here are a cause; or they're a reflection; or the effect…what's going on? What are the new rules?"

"The law is just…Just a whisper away… A way home to wonder, wonder who…who knows how to measure rules… with a ruler…! Cruel rules…"

"Idiot! We should have left you in bits. Come; the least you can do is help us discover what's going on." He didn't reply. He just grabbed both me and Death by the waist, and jumped upward, breaking through the arena where we fought the first Menacing Ruin. He threw us on his back, and jumped onto a gear and began running at full speed. We soon entered another room where the Hatter was struggling to get a door open. I could tell Death was mad at the Hatter for doing that.

He grabbed the Hatter's shoulder violently. "What the _hell_ was that?"

"What other way was I supposed to get your scrawny ass down here?" Death didn't reply; he just pinned the Hatters head to the wall he was trying to open with Harvester.

"You want to lose your head _again?_" Death asked seriously.

"Short temper, Reaper."

"I'll gladly separate your head from your torso. Just say the word_._" Death hissed. The Hatter put his hands up as surrender.

"Smart choice." Death stated, tearing Harvester from the wall. Before he walked away, He used his weapon to break the door open with one slice. We all walked through it, and we entered a room that was lit with a crimson red light and gears making up the walls. Death went over to help the Hatter with yet another door that needed to be open. I walked off to fight off another pack o Insidious ruins, though tuned everything out besides their conversation.

"This one is a lot sturdier." Death acknowledged. I met his eyes for less than a second. He chuckled, loud enough for me to hear, then went back to work.

"You really care for Alice, don't you?" I heard Hatter say.

"…Why should I tell you?"

"Because I have known Alice since she was born. I ought to be able to know."

"Well, in that case, I suppose… very much, in all reality. More than I could ever express."

"Definitely more then you can express, since you're the Grim Reaper."

"Well, yes. I have no idea why. But honestly, I more than just _care_ for Alice."

"Yes, well, I don't exactly blame you. I've always known Alice is a very strong girl, considering all that has happened to her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't she tell you?" I couldn't listen anymore.

"Do you have that door opened?" I asked, breaking up their conversation.

"Yes." Death replied as the door slowly opened. I caught up to the both of them and the three of us walked through the next door.

The next room was very big with a rusty railroad track running through the middle of it. Underneath the track was a sea of freshly brewed tea, and we saw a train. It had fire and oil spilling out of every open area, and it was so detailed and elegant, it was almost castle-like.

"The Infernal Train…" Death mumbled to himself, almost to the point where it was unintelligible.

"We've found the source of the shaking. But are those two quaking? What are they up to?"

"You'll never stop us, silly Hatter, Alice, and Death." We heard the Dormouse say. "It's left; you're too late."

The Hatter began to panic. "The insolence, the arrogance, the execrable table manners. They are the destroyers of Wonderland. Defilers, denuders, deranges… delightful…"

"Did they create that infernal train to destroy Wonderland?"

"What does that matter? They deserve to die!" The Hatter exclaimed. A hook that was hanging above Hatter's head grabbed him by the back and hoisted him up.

"Argh! Put me down this instant! I ought to-"Then one grabbed Death by his belt clip. Though, as self- defense, he swung Harvester and the piece clanked against the ground.

"Enough talk; battle time!" The Dormouse yelled. I drew my Vorpal Blade and saw the chains hoisting up a large object out of the tea. Once I got a full view of it, there was a large robot with a flaming red drill on one arm, and one of the thousands of metal fists on the other. In the middle were two eyes; one with the Dormouse in it and the other with the March Hare. Once the robot was about to strike, it malfunctioned and broke into many separate pieces. The Dormouse and March Hare were thrown out of the collapsing robot, and as soon as they hit the ground, they died on impact. Hatter were let go from the hook and he dropped to the ground. Death quickly came to my side, but the Hatter stayed in his place, mourning.

_"No! _My precious Domain! And the guests! All I really wanted was another tea party!" The Hatter exclaimed.

"Please Hatter, you _promised._ Where is that train going? What's its purpose? Tell us. Now." I demanded.

"There's no time for…whatever it is you want to talk about! It's time for tea. Talk trains with Turtle; he ran the Looking Glass Line. Come on you lot! We can still be friends. I've got fine Darjeeling. Drink, Drink!" He said to the now dead March Hare.

"My memories are shattered. I'm trying to collect the pieces and I now believe the train impedes us. You must help me, you promised!"

"Memories? Alice! For Oblivion's sake, what happened?" Death looked at me with concern as the Hatter's Domain began to collapse around us.

"Ask the one who helps themselves… whoever that is." As soon as he said that, a teapot crushed him and the other two carcasses.

"He deserved to die." I stated. Death began to float away from me, despite his major protest.

"Alice!" He called. I went under the brewing tea and blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up with two large men standing over me. "Caught me very own river nymph." One of them said.

"Saints be praised! He works in mysterious ways. Got plans for her?" the other questioned, referring to me. I sat up, choking on the water that I as drowning in.

"Take her over to the Mangled Mermaid; Rent a bed."

"Hard to woo a girl midst a brawl."

"What on _Earth_ do you think you're doing?!" I exclaimed.

"What comes natural, like…?" The man on the right said.

"It's not natural to me. Get away!" I yelled as I stood up. I was back in London. It was pouring down rain in the misty humid air and it smelled distinctively of fish. I began to walk up the boardwalk where I was captured. Once I got to the top, I had a horrifying realization.

_"Death?!"_ I yelled out loud, pain in my voice. A woman walked up to me.

"Are you alright?" She questioned.

"What the hell is this? Where is Death?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. I saw the look of terror in her eyes, so I let go and walked away. More people walked up to me, muttering harsh comments. I just ignored them as I hysterically looked for Death.

_Damn, damn, damn! Where is he?!_ I thought. _He can't be gone!_ I ran up a flight of stairs in a storage room as fast as I could, frantically looking for him. I ran everywhere in the pouring rain, knowing deep down that it was no use. I wanted to get out of the rain, so I went to a hotel that I knew my nanny owned. I tried to walk through the front door, but two men stopped me from entering.

"Tart with some rough edges likes everything rough, I'll wager."

"A handsome offer, but I've got an appointment…with another man." I snapped, Death crossing my mind. No, what the hell, he didn't think of me like that…

I walked up to the hotel and saw my nanny up in a balcony, yelling at a man on the ground. Once their screaming match was over, she turned her attention to me.

"Alice Liddell! You'll make a nice change. Bring your disheveled self up here." Nanny said warmly, moving out of the window sill. I didn't answer, but I decided to go around back to get into the hotel. I got around to the back, and a man lied there passed out. I ran past him, walking into the building and up the stairs. I walked into a room lit by candlelight. The man that was down on the street, yelling at Nanny from above, was beating her to the hard ground. Once she was unconscious, he turned his attention to me.

"Go away! She's done no harm!" I yelled, balling my fists.

"...she hurt me feelings," He replied angrily. He swung his fist, hitting me hard in the face knocking me down. My vision blurred, and before I blacked out, I saw the man throw the candle into a pile of ashen white blankets, starting a blazing fire. As I shut my eyes, looking at the fire, Death came to mind with his fiery eyes the same color.

xxxxxxxx

I found myself standing in a beautiful place. It was covered in ice; an iceberg every so often in the cool black water. The northern lights scattered across the sky like the waves in the water, and I stood looking at the crescent moon that had a smile carved into its face. I stood in my place, and thought about Death.

"This isn't fair," I said out loud, tears welling up in my eyes. "Where could he have possibly gone?" As soon as I said that, someone swooped me off of my feet, carrying me to the edge of the ice. I looked up and saw him.

"Death!" I said as he sat me down, looking at the sky.

"You actually thought I would leave?"

"I'm so _glad_ to see you!" I said as Death sat down right next to me, looking over the dark sky. We stayed quiet for quite a while, looking over the world.

Death nudged me in the arm. "This ice is beautiful."

"If you knew my past, it would seem worse." Death nodded his head.

"…If I asked you a question, would you answer me truthfully?" he questioned.

"Depending on what you're asking…but yes."

"What got you to this terrible state of mind?" I remember him asking that when we met.

"I…"

"Alice, as I've said, I like to know the history of worlds that I visit. Including how they are formed."

"It's just so-"

"I don't care… tell me." Death insisted. I looked down, and reached my hand to the horseshoe necklace that was strung around my neck. I unfastened it, holding it out to him.

"See for yourself." I told him without making eye contact. He grasped the necklace, and I knew exactly what he saw.

X-

_I was sitting in my bedroom, fast asleep. A candle was light, with the moonlight shining bright in the room. I lied next to a book, open from when I was reading it the night before. I was dreaming about Wonderland, and how incredible it was then. I heard a small crash, but I was too stubborn to get up and see what it was. I kept my eyes closed, until I head faint cries coming from my parents' room. I sat up to find that my cat, Dynah, had knocked over the candle in my room, starting a blazing fire. I jumped out of my bed, avoiding the fire to reach the door leading out of my room._

_"Liz? Liz! Open the door! You'll burn!" I heard my father say down the hall, pounding on my sisters' room door._

_"Alice, Alice!" I heard my mother say. I ran faster to get to the door._

_"Mother? Father?" I called, listening to them scream in pain. I got to the door, but it wouldn't open._

_"Get out Alice!" My mom said again. Then my dad spoke._

_"Save yourself, Alice! Get out! Argh, ALICE!" My dad yelled his voice cracking as the fire took his life. I ran to the window, grabbed my stuffed rabbit; I was jumping out with tears flooding out of my eyes. I hit the ground, and running out of sight of the house. I saw a few men standing over me._

_"Come over here sergeant, this girl's badly burned!" One of them said. After that, I blacked out. The next thing I remember was being in an asylum, talking to a strange man, who asked me about the fire each day. Some days were worse; I had so much on my mind about once a week to the point that I couldn't remember my name, and some days I just freaked out to the point where guards had to hold me down. Every day was the same after that terrible life-changing fire…_

_X-_

Death snapped back into Wonderland. He cleared his throat and shook his head a few times in an attempt to rid the thoughts from his mind.

"Are you alright?" I asked, slightly concerned. Death began to breathe normally, and then looked at me straight in the eye. I looked down.

"Okay, I know I went mad because of it. My family… died. I…" I couldn't go on. The guilt began to reform. Tears welled up in m eyes, so I looked away.

"Alice…" I bit my lip so I wouldn't cry in front of him. I squeezed my eyes shut. I wiped away the tears that fell and looked back at him. "I'm sorry…"

I gave him a dead smile and got to my feet. He did the same but stood behind me. "I have a question." I said.

"Shoot."

"I want to know your past-"

"No."

"I showed you mine, you show me yours."

"You don't want to-"

"Death…" I said softly.

"You would disgust me. I promise you."

"I won't..." I said, my eyes filled with concern and his with dejection. He took a step forward to close the already slim space between us.

Before I could comprehend it, something black caught my eye; I felt claws dig into my shoulder and a nightmare overcame me.

X-

_Death stood at the face of a battlefield, his hands tightly gripping over each of his twin scythes. He looked much younger, but not less deadly. The man to his right wore a scarlet red hood and he had ice white hair. He held a huge sword in his hand that was completely incased in a tungsten gauntlet. His face was as hard and cold as the ash ridden ground they were standing on, though it softened even more when he saw a woman with lightning blue hair run through the crowd. It returned almost immediately. On his right was a woman with wine colored hair and skin as sickly pale as Death's, if not more. She stood with a purple flaming whip incased in a pair of claws. The last man stood with two immense pistols in each hand and a helmet over his pasty gray hair. The four people summoned their horses, one that was Despair. The only other one that I acknowledged was War's horse, and I cringed at the sight of it, since it was literally on _fire._ The four rode into a crowd of people, slaughtering any who stood in their way. Thousands of these Nephillim stood, mothers, children, lovers. By the end, only four remained. War, Strife, Fury,_

_ Death._

_"The Nephilim are dead," The woman muttered under her breath. _

_Death closed the eyes of one of the women he killed with a look of horror and guilt twisted into his eyes. "Fury… It was for the best. You know that."_

_The Four traveled to a court. It was The Charred Council. There, three rocks stood in a pool of magma, faces that were angry and spiteful engraved into each one and fire spitting out of the mouths as they spoke. _

**_"Alright, Horsemen." _**_The one in the middle began. __**"You have spared Eden from being taken over by the Nephillim. By doing so, you have preserved the balance. The Charred Council will forever be grateful."**_

**_"However…" _**_Now the one on the right was speaking. __**"Because of the wreck less acts of your kin, we are hesitant to let you now roam the worlds freely. To keep your lives, you must serve us, though in exchange for unimaginable power…" **_

_In unison, each of them fell to the ground. The process of gaining the amount of power that they did was extraordinarily painful, though they got through it. At the end, breathing heavily, the Four Horsemen realized it _was_ for the best to kill their kin… or was it?_

_Death will never be sure._

X-

Wonderland came back to me. I staggered back, walking backwards until my back was firmly pressed against one of the ice walls, and I looked at Death. I saw in his eyes that he thought I disgusted him.

"Death," I started.

"It's alright. I'm sorry. I came here for a mission, not to develop affections towards you." He said, quickly and without any thought on what he had said.

I smiled at his outburst.

"I'm-"

"If you apologize one more time, I'm going to lose my _mind." _I giggled. He didn't return it. He yet again closed the space between us and took my left hand in one of his and looked me in the eyes.

My heartbeat sped up. I didn't know what to think. The bottom of his old ivory mask was barely- just _barely- _touching my lips. I looked down to the bottom of it, the only thing separating our faces, studying each scar, and then met his eyes again. He moved slightly closer to me, and what he said next made my heart almost stop.

"You want me to take my mask off."

I pressed my head back against the wall and opened my mouth to say something, but I didn't exactly want to _protest._ I closed my mouth again as my face flushed red. He laughed and leaned down so his chin was gently resting on my shoulder and whispered the two words into my ear, slowly and seductively:

"Not yet."

He pushed himself away from me and began walking. When he was a few feet away, he spoke again, "Just to keep you interested."

I quickly followed without a moment of hesitation.

Xxxxxxxx

After that incident, we were much,_ much _friendlier to each other. He would walk closer to me so my side was always against his. He would playfully wrap an arm around my waist almost all of the time. We approached another pool of grease, and saw a Menacing Ruin form out of it, along with two other Insidious ruins. Once I killed them off, I saw Death struggling with the Menacing ruin so I snuck up behind it and cut through its torso in one movement.

"Well," Death said as the creature returned to its normal form in the oil. "Your 'fancy bloody dagger' is stronger than I anticipated." I smiled shyly, still blushing and unable to look at him. We walked through the ice palace and we walked into a large corridor next. It had huge icicles hanging from the ceiling and a frozen staircase leading to something.

"What's that?" Death pondered aloud.

"I... I don't know-" Death cut me off by grabbing my hand and pulling me up the slippery flight of stairs. I started laughing as he got me to the top, pinning me to the ground with his foot. I grabbed it, making him fall on top of me. Once he did, he turned so I was on top of him, still laughing.

"What was that for?"

"Hell if I knew." I grinned.

We got up and looked at the thing that was sitting on a stand. It was a timber horse's head on a wooden stick. It was lined with red and blue paint on the edges, and it stood on a light blue wheel.

"What the hell… you know what, I don't want to know." He chuckled. As soon as he stopped, creatures made their way out of the ice. They were pale blue, with scales marring every inch of their bodies. They had blood stained, sharpened teeth. Death wasn't prepared to fight, so as he unclipped Harvester from his belt as I ran towards the horse head, grabbing the stick that held it up, and smashing the creature into the cold ground with a spray of blood to follow.

"Damn," Death said. "I thought that was a child's play toy, not a lethal weapon!"

"Now do you believe I'm crazy?"

"No." Death said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder playfully as we kept walking. We finally reached another cliff that lead into an icy abyss of black water. On the other side was a cracked crystal clear bottle frozen into the ice. Inside was a ship that had the timber rotting away as well as the sails. Death turned into his Reaper form, grabbed my waist, and we both went over the black sky, leaving a purple mist in our tracks. We got to the other side and he turned into me again.

"You _still _don't think that's frightening?" Death asked.

"Not at all." I smiled. He narrowed his eyes at me and crossed his arms. We walked over to the bottle, and jumped in from where it was cracked. A large shark-like creature slammed into the bottle, cracking it even more. It was completely made out of wood, other than the eyes that were lamp-posts. Death and I heard a voice from the ship.

"You better come aboard, Alice and stranger. We're doomed of course." I heard the Mock Turtle say.

"What? There's no hope then?" I replied, looking at Death, who had his eyes fixated on me.

"Oh, there is an infinite amount of hope, but none for us. Now, both of you get up here." We ran up the ship, climbing aboard as another shark slammed into the glass.

"Confounded beasts; they want my ship!" The Mock turtle said.

"I think you're more to their taste."

"Never. We're almost _relatives_." I heard Death mumble something under his breath after that, though I couldn't make out what it was.

"You're related to soup, Admiral." I smirked.

He gasped. "I've an idea! We leave this mayhem and go to Carpenter's show. It's better than a gaff. Carpenter promises what we don't take seriously can't harm us!"

"Best dive now, Admiral, or the sharks will have us for lunch." Just then, the bottle that the ship was incased in broke in two, letting the ship out of its grasp. It hit the water and it went down into it. Once we were in, a wave came over the ship, taking us out and under the freezing water.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up on a sandy floor with the crashed boat on the other side of the place. It was a deep blue and it looked like we were underwater. I got up and saw the Mock Turtle sitting on the sand, weeping.

"Ow," I began. "My body aches all over. We submerged too quickly!"

"My ship's a wreck, and I am too." The Mock Turtle spoke.

"Admirals go down with their ships."

"In any case, I never knew you as a sailor. If memory serves, you were a station master of the Looking Glass Line."

"Sacked from the railroad without the option. 'Redundant' the nitwits said." The Mock Turtle began. "Never a holiday, loyal as a building. 'Going in a different direction' said my Aunt Fanny, if I had one. Going off their rails more like! Bloody disaster... Now, I'm ship-less. The old railroad's dead, and this new thing's a monstrosity! What I don't know about it can't hurt me. Say no more. Nod's as good as a wink." He paused. "Change the subject! We avoid speaking about the thing whose name should not be spoken."

"Hearing something useful about this new 'Train' would make a lot of change."

"You don't respect the suffering of others. Go ask your questions and smart remarks to Caterpillar."

"I'm sorry, Admiral. Really. Please… tell me what you know about the train."

"I'll just say we've escaped from a contaminating corruption. Count yourself lucky to be down here."

"But I don't want to escape it. I want to stop it. I must stop it to save us… and Wonderland too... and mankind, for that matter."

"Nonsense. Speak more nonsense. Diversions-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Death interrupted, grabbing the Mock Turtle's shoulder. He shoved Deaths hand off and kept talking.

"The show must go on; and on and on… speaking of shows, here's two tickets to Carpenters show. Use them." He said, holding out two pieces of plastic. I grabbed them, and put them in my dress pocket as we walked towards the next door. As we kept walking through the place we mysteriously landed, I began to gaze at the scenery. The sky was a deep sea blue that looked almost black. Everywhere on the path that we were on was a plant that glowed with neon colors in the sea. Scattered all around were wooden ships, rotting away in the murky black water.

"Another example that you are _not_ crazy." Death said, gesturing his hand out referring to the depths.

"I still am crazy; just because I think of something beautiful like this doesn't mean I'm not mad."

"In my eyes, you're not insane."

"We have also discussed _this. _I'm not insane in your eyes, but in _reality."_ I said. Death wrapped both of his arms around my waist and pressed his forehead against mine, stopping us in the middle of our walk.

"Will. You. Just. Stop." He said slowly, making me laugh.

"I… I know, It's just…"

"Alice…" He said sternly though teasingly.

I smiled and kept my eyes to him, though at the thought, I wanted to look down at his mask, as a hint for him to take the damn thing off. I forced myself not to, but chuckled at my idiocy.

"What?" He asked with an evil chuckle of his own.

"N-nothing…" I lied.

He lifted his forehead off mine and he began walking again. We soon found a door. It was cream white and the window had a blazing fire in it. "Ladies first." Death said. I grabbed his arm and pulled him in. Once the door shut behind us, a memory of mine overcame us.

X-

_I looked and saw myself when I was eight, walking through my dark house with my cat and my stuffed rabbit. I looked to see that the log on the fire was dead, so I went upstairs. I then realized as I watched this nightmare, that if that log wasn't dead, I could be responsible for my family's deaths…_

X-

Death and I walked out of the door, I was just shocked. I looked at the floor with my wide eyes in intense thought.

Death put his hand on my shoulder, making me jump. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes," I stuttered.

"Alice,"

"I'm fine," My voice cracked that time. I could actually be responsible for my family's deaths. I tried to hide it by smiling, but Death saw the pity in my eyes, so he wrapped his arms around me. I tried to push him away this time because I wanted to convince him that I was fine, but he wouldn't budge.

I closed my eyes and directed my head down. "I said I'm alright-"

"Quiet." Death stopped me.

"Death, I said I was fine," I promised, now smiling. Death picked me up and started walking away from the door. I was in his arms, laughing hysterically. "Put me _down!"_

"Never!" He yelled, beginning to run. We both turned around and saw a doorway with the words 'Barrel bottom' on the top. I heard the Cheshire cat come.

"What lies beneath this patina of civility? Something _wicked_ I'll wager…"

The place we entered called 'Barrel Bottom' just looked like a small town. All around were townspeople, but they were different kinds of fish. The town had brightly shining lampposts scattered around a statue of a man thrusting a hammer into the air. The townspeople backed away from us in fright as we walked past them, obviously frightened of Death. That made me laugh. We got to the end of the street and got to a sign that read 'Dreary Lane Theatre'.

"I'm guessing that is where the Carpenter is?" Death questioned.

"Hopefully not. I get annoyed with the ones in Wonderland quite easily. Especially the Jabberwocky…" That last part I actually meant to think, but it slipped out and Death heard it.

"Jabberwocky?"

I paused. "Never mind,"

"Alice, who is-"

"He is just a creature that speaks the truth, that's all. I'll show you," I said, unfastening my necklace and handing it to Death as we both were sucked into memory of mine.

X-

_I saw myself when I as eight in an empty flaming house with most of the windows broken and the floors cracking. I looked at a creature standing with a lamp in the middle of his pale green chest and the wings were made with pieces of wood and cloth. It stood with a skin tight neck, breathing heavily._

_"I've been waiting for you, Alice. Have you never heard that punctuality's a virtue?" The creature said with a raspy voice._

_"You and my dentist's assistant have much in common." I replied with a cross of my arms._

_"You're habitually late aren't you? Between your dim-witted daydreaming and your preening vanity, the hours just fly by. There's barely any time for anything else."_

_"Is that the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt…"_

_"Your family was expecting you to come to them, weren't they? Perhaps they thought you might warn them of the danger…being close to the source you were. But they waited in vain, Didn't they and die for their trouble."_

_"We were all asleep, it was an accident, I-" My voice started cracking as he cut me off._

_"You selfish, misbegotten, unnatural child! You smelled the smoke. But you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends. You couldn't be bothered. Your room was protected and spared, while your family roasted upstairs in an inferno of incredible horror!"_

_"No!" I yelled as the creature slashed his razor sharp claws at me…_

The memory ended and Death looked at me. "You…"He isn't right like you said he was. He's completely wrong. You _were _asleep when it happened. It wasn't your fault."

"I could've woken."

"Alice," Death said, making me laugh.

"Come on," I said, starting to walk again. He caught up to me and we walked past the sign. There was another gap that Death carried me across. Once we got to the plank on the other side, we both heard a sickly noise coming from above us. We looked up and saw another blob of oil, floating around in the sea above us. It had four arms coming out of the grease, and a singular head in the middle, snarling at us. The creature began to move its body in a circle as it was floating in the water. As its momentum increased, it turned back toward us, flinging something. The object was bright red as it was shining in the faint light of the lamp posts. It was incredibly spiky; sharper then my blade on every end of it. The ruby red spikes crashed into the side of Harvesters blade, wrapping itself around it like the spikes were tar.

Death picked up his weapon and swung it at the blob of grease. The crimson points then untwined itself from Harvester and returned to the creature that threw it; the spikes then poisoned it and knocking it comatose.

"Drifting Ruin," I explained. "Their spikes are extremely poisonous."

Death paused. "Define poisonous."

"Poisonous, as in if you get stricken by one, it won't _kill_ you, but it will knock you unconscious,"

"Don't get caught by one." He teased, but with a stern voice.

"Neither do you; I unquestionably _cannot _carry you!" We shared a laugh and continued on our path. We kept hiking through the Deluded Depths until we reached another gap. This one was too wide for Death and I to get across, but luckily there were different platforms all throughout the cavern. Death grabbed me by the waist and turned to his reaper form, carrying us across to one of the podiums. We stopped so Death could break, and right as he landed, I felt a razor-sharp pain in my shoulder blade. My vision began to blur, and I hit the floor. I knew that a Drifting Ruin must have gotten me in the shoulder because in the corner of my eye I saw a bright crimson hue. Right before my eyes closed, I saw Death kill the creature and begin to run towards me as I passed out.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke to see Death carrying me across the sandy place; he looked down to see that I had awoken, so he carried me toward a piece of a submerged ship, setting me down as I grabbed my head. I groaned, setting my head on the back of the boat.

"Are you okay?" Death asked with concerned eyes. I didn't answer him; I just wrapped my arms around him. He sat down next to me with a sigh and draped his arm around my shoulder, making sure that he didn't disturb my wound. I set my head underneath his jaw line as he pressed his head against mine.

"You didn't have to do that…" I whispered.

"How else are we supposed to get to the destroyer of Wonderland?" Death replied. I had no idea how to answer, so we sat in silence for quite a while. After, my arm began to sting again, so I whimpered as softly as I could. Although it didn't help; Death had ears like a hawk. He moved his head off of mine and looked at me.

"You never answered my question." He stated. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Alice, don't lie to me. I can tell you are in pain from that _damned _Drifting Ruin." He growled at the thought. I realized I never actually looked at my injury. I glanced at my arm to find it wrapped in old, tattered gauze, tied in a knot at the back of my arm. Carefully, I untied it so I could see it. It was a four inch burn across my forearm; it had to be at least an inch deep, glowing with small hole in it.

"Seriously?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"What?"

"Ha! The damn thing _burned _me."

"Yeah, that's not very good, Alice."

"Nope, It's fine. It'll heal sooner or later." I said as I wrapped it back up hiding the searing pain.

"Alice,"

"It's _fine._ I'll manage."

"You have been out for two _days."_

"I'm stronger than you think me to be_."_ I tried to stand up, but as soon as I did, my vision went black and I hit the sea floor again, cringing in pain.

Death faintly chuckled at my attempt and picked me up. "The poison hasn't run its course throughout your body yet. It'll be another day or two until you should be able to stand on your feet again."

"Damn it!" I exclaimed. "We can't wait another two days to get back on course."

"We don't have to." Without doing anything else, he set me back down on the sunken ship and summoned his horse, Despair.

"Hmm" I thought aloud. "Most peculiar beast," The horse snarled at me. Death lightly punched his steed in his decomposing shoulder blade, as he walked over to me. He picked me up- despite my attempt to protest- and set me in front of him on the saddle. Once we were both mounted, Despair began to walk on the path that we assumed that lead to the theatre.

"Put your head down," Death offered without peeling his gaze from the scenery. "Get some rest."

"Death, I can manage w-"

"Alice…" He murmured, in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing the side of his face to my ear, sending a chill down my spine. I closed my eyes, because strangely, his voice was giving me slight comfort. I let my head rest against his chest. He stroked my hair to calm me, and I drifted off into sleep.

xxxxxxxx

I woke up with my head still leaning against Death's warm body. I moved closer to him. As Despair galloped slowly towards another cavern not too far away, I lifted my head up; accidentally bumping into Death who was staring off on the path ahead, completely unaware that I had awoken. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was thinking about something unpleasant. He hadn't noticed that I had awoken, so I tried to snap him out of his daze.

"What's wrong?" I questioned, making Death jump.

"How are you doing? The poison should have run its course by now."

"I'm fine." I stated quickly. "What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it." He dismounted from his horse and picked me up. Once he set me sown on the ground, my vision only blurred for a few moments until it returned back to somewhat normal. We kept walking, with me tripping often, though Death was there to catch me when I fell. We reached another monstrous gap. On the other end was another outsized ship with a lighten sign on the top of an open door. Due to my blurred vision, I couldn't make out the words on the sign.

"I guess we have reached our destination," Death informed me, breaking out his other form and grabbing me, pulling me towards the building. Once we were back on solid ground, I looked up at the marquee above me. It read 'Dreary Lane Theatre', so I understood what Death meant by reaching our destination. We walked into the theatre to find a room filled with empty seats and strung with red curtains from the ceiling. We walked in between the rows of seats, walking towards the stage with a fat walrus on the top, sleeping. Out behind one of the curtains came the man that we saw a statue of in Barrel Bottom.

"Ah, Alice! Delighted to see you again, my dear. Your arrival is filled with fortune-ality itself." Carpenter said with a cheerful voice.

"Really? I didn't even know-" I was cut off by Death's snarl at Carpenter as he tightened his grip around my waist. I don't really know why, but that made me giggle to myself.

"Never mind. My pregnant show is about to pop! I require only a medicament of your helpful-osity."

"We don't have much experience…but I do need to reconstruct my-" The sound of Carpenter jumping off the stage and right in front of Death and I.

"We can barter…I have a screwdriver, nearly new, or a nice hammer, if you're more interested in…" Carpenter said as Death rolled his eyes. "There is a train that's corrupting Wonderland, and I'm for help to restrain it or destroy it. Most vexatious, no doubt. We'll address that ah, monstrosity directly, that's to say, eventually. Now, let's intermediate more important matters. Due to a logisterical foul-up, some of the shows' requirements need to be gathered."

"Oh, _so _interesting." Death said. Carpenter ignored him and continued on.

"The munificent script needs fetching. The writer's overly imaginative and exploring several endings. Then you need to assemble the show's tune-deaf music. And finally, gather our stars. The show's tasty…nay tasteful performers. You should leave now. The essentiality of haste is essential."

"It hardly seems you're ready for the show. Why can't you assemble these things yourself?"

"An Impresario has arrangements, ducks in a row. Fish to fry, coals to Newcastle, etcetera, etcetera. Fetch the script from the writer, and then we can batter or matter or clatter as the case may be." Death looked Carpenter in the eye and growled with his deep voice again and we walked away. We came out of the theatre and the Cheshire cat appeared.

"You're sufficiently fortified to kick some a…To boot these creatures in their nether regions." He corrected himself.

"I could have liked you. But you _had _to correct yourself!" He said, disappointed but sarcastic. Cat rolled his eyes and departed. When we walked out of the theatre, we didn't end up in the same place where we entered. Once we exited, there was a drop off into a pit about thirty feet below us. We jumped down to find a creature moving around in a black cave. It walked out finally and we saw a crab like being snapping a single claw at us. The other arm was stone black cannon wielded into the things flesh and he held a lit cigar in his mouth. The crab took its cigar and taped it on the wick of the cannon, lighting it. Death and I ducked out of the way as the cannon ball crashed into a wall of the place. Death got out Harvester and ran towards the crab. With one swift movement, the scythe ripped the crabs cannon arm out of its socket, leaving it in a pool of blood on the sandy bottom. The thing screeched in pain as it hit the floor as well, failing.

"Simple enough," I teased. Death quietly chuckled and we kept walking. There was a staircase of fallen rocks that we hiked up until we reached the top; there was a mouth of a huge fish with razor sharp teeth. It was obviously dead, so Death and I considered it to be a doorway. We walked through and as soon as we got through, the jaw snapped shut, leaving us in complete darkness. I had no idea where Death was because he was totally silent in the black. I was just about to say something, but before I could, the door snapped open.

"'Place smells like a rip distillery with a whiff of halitosis and urine." I stated, making Death chuckle.

"It's the scent of unrecognized genius, so piss off!" The thing said.

"More empties than a Dublin brewery…Carpenter sent us."

"For starters, the Carpenter is a pusillanimous, parsimonious, pettifogging moron."

"That's as may be. But he sent me for the script. I need-"

"Your needs are shite. I need a _drink!_ Who cares?!" He said, making Death wrap his fist around Harvester's handle. "I need those responsible for my abortive career in chains; no joy. _I_ need to know what _love_ is! The world is mum. Right now, I need a dose of 'hide and seek'. Find me thrice, fair _maiden,_ and we can deal." Once Death heard that, he got out Harvester and pinned the octopus to the wall.

"We've got no time. Hand over the script now, and we will leave with your head _intact."_ Death threatened.

"Gah, you're no fun. I see you've found what love is; with this maiden by your side. A plaything, obviously." The octopus said. Death tightened his grip on Harvester and moved it closer to its neck; so close that it made contact with the skin.

"Where is the script?" He demanded.

"Over on the desk."

"Alice, go grab it." Death told me. I walked over and picked up the piece of paper. "Good,"

"Now let me go, Horseman."

"Hmm, I'm good." Death said sarcastically. Once he did, he pulled Harvester from its grip on the wall only to move it and thrust the tip into the creature's chest. "I believe you're Harvester's _'plaything'_ now." The octopus coughed up blood as it slid off of the blade then collapsed.

"Why did you-"

"Because he is a damn fool," Death cut me off. "If we have the script, let's go."

I started to laugh. "So, if someone says something like what he said, you'd kill them?"

"Only for you." he said nonchalantly.

My face turned from white to bright red. I looked down and we walked. "Hey, Death?" I asked as we walked through another fishes' jaw on the other side of the room.

"Hmm?"

"What were you thinking about when I woke? You seemed like you were thinking about something bad." He didn't answer me like he was thinking about whatever it was again.

"I told you not to worry about it."

"I'm a curious person."

"Well, I can see that vividly." He said, snickering. "Fine, I'll show you. Because if I don't, you won't shut up…Well, I know I can trust you too…" Death brought a black bird to his side. In one swift movement, the crow hopped from his shoulder to mine.

X-

_I saw Death and Despair galloping on a foggy path towards nothing that I could see in particular. Despair looked a lot younger; or at least less decomposed. They kept travelling through the dense fog to soon find another horse. This one was just about the same size as Despair, although its flesh wasn't rapidly breaking down. This horse was black with blazing fire coming out of all four of its hooves and the eye sockets. It had layers of armor over its toughened skin and a piece holding the horses' mouth open in a vicious snarl. I've seen the horse before; in different memories. Death jumped from Despair's saddle and walked towards the other horse. Once he did, he turned around to find a field of dead angels before him. The one corpse that the fiery red horse stood closest to is where Death knelt down to. The carcass had dark, rough skin- much like the horses'- other that his face was deeply tan. His hair was icy white covered in a deep crimson hood. The fallen man lied on the hard ground with three holes imbedded into his chest. Death examined the wounds with the dreadful realization that the man was dead. He sat back, pressing his legs to his chest for a few moments until he picked up the dead body and hugged it, shocked by the fact that he was deceased. I saw in Death's eyes how terrible he felt. The Reaper looked down to the ground and saw a huge blade, covered in pictures of souls engraved into the metal. He picked up the sword and put it in the corpses' hand and making a fist around the handle. Death began to whisper something in a completely different language._

_"I have never encountered a spirit strong enough to refuse my call, and I am not going to let you be the first, brother!" Death yelled. Once he did, the dead body slightly moved, hick made my body jump on the outside of the nightmare. Once the rider saw the corpse twitch, he took the metal sword- still in the body's hand- and quickly shoved it into his chest. Once he did, the body shuddered again, and then his eyes opened leaving a bright white hue in the fog. He sat up and spoke with a deep velvety voice._

_"…Perhaps you should have left me dead." He told Death._

_"Why?"_

_"Don't patronize me, brother! I failed. I failed you, the Council, everyone. Death was the least I deserve."_

_"War, this isn't your fault. The plan didn't go as we discussed. Against Hadrimon and Black Mercy, What more could you have done? Hadrimon doesn't have the Ravaiim blood. I was able to get hold to the cylinder before Hadrimon could escape with it. It's gone permanently." Death said like it was difficult to say._

_"I don't follow. How-"_

_"Later. Now, we have to move. Do you need any assistance mounting Ruin?" The man slowly stood up and walked towards the beast. Once he was in the saddle, Death mounted his own horse and the two rode off into the fog…_

X-

I got my vision back, looking at Death. I let the bird fly out of my hands, but the black crow sat itself on my shoulder and rubbed its body against my head.

"I guess he likes you," Death chuckled as I reached my head up to pet the bird. After a few moments, the crow flew off and went through the tunnel, Death and I following close behind. On the other side was a cave lit with more neon colored plants. It had large icicles imbedded deep into the sandy floor, forming a staircase up to a peculiar being. It was a sky blue bottle that had shiny silver scales reflecting patterns on the walls of the cave. It had two black eyes centered on each side of the neck of the bottle, and small fins keeping it afloat. The beast didn't look to murderous; it just seemed like it was in a phase of despair.

"It's all wrong!" the creature yelled, voice cracking. "If I had ears, they'd be hurting!"

"I'm not terribly musical, but you seem out of tune." I replied even though it wasn't talking to me.

"It's not my fault. I can't hear the notes; the pipes are obstructed-"

"I can see that. Why not do something about it?"

"And endanger my vocal chords?" it rhetorically asked. "You two might do it for me."

"Everyone here has an excuse for doing nothing-" I said, pointing at Death. "-other than him." We began to walk towards a tunnel with a horn overtop, assuming that it was where one of the pipes. Once we got through, we saw a long, rusty channel, moving and malfunctioning because there was hardened oil stuck to the tip. Death reached for Harvester, and he broke the pipe free. Once he clipped his scythes back to his belt, I asked him a question I've been waiting to ask for a while.

"You really love your brother, don't you? Since you did that for him… "I asked, breaking the silence.

"He can be a stubborn one sometimes, but yes."

"That's-"

"And I bet you miss your sister."

"Yes-"

"It's okay; I know what it's like to lose your family." Death implied. Once he said that, I felt like my situation didn't matter anymore. At that moment, I realized how much more horrifying Death's past is than mine. How I had to be sent to an asylum because of my past, and he just overcame his. As soon as I realized it, a Menacing Ruin formed from the oil. Death drew Harvester, but I left the Vorpal Blade in its place. I was sickened by the fact that I was so exceedingly weaker than him.

"Alice?" Death questioned. I looked up at the Menacing Ruin, and penetrated him with a look of pure hatred. I thought about it for a few moments, and before Death could strike our opponent, he screeched in pain, piercing the air with the high pitched scream. All of the corruption began to sizzle as it rotted away. All of the pipes that Death and I were supposed to unblock, unblocked themselves. The water began to look less polluted as we watched everything change, awestruck. After the transformation, Death looked at me.

"You're getting better! What caused it?" He exclaimed, making me stiffen.

"I don't know," I lied. I didn't want him to know that what he said helped me... which was really strange.

"Alice…"

"It's nothing."

"You're lying."

"Your point being?' I snapped. He narrowed his eyes.

"Was it something I said?"

"N-no," I wanted him to let it go. Once I thought that, he must have read my mind, because he stopped bothering me to tell him. We both continued to walk towards the bottled creature once more.


	9. Chapter 9

"The audience will be grateful for your efforts. The performers' meager efforts will be enhanced by my musical score. Please wake them with this exiting news." The fish spoke, its voice annoyingly dull.

"Great; Another thing to do." Death rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's not _that _bad. I get to be with you," I pointed out, regretting it as soon as I set it. Did that sound weird…?

"That's definitely a positive thing." He replied. I guess not.

Some stalactites fell; a distorted staircase was formed up to a tunnel among a gray, stone door with a trident carved into the center. The door lifted, and we got to the top of the stairs and continued on our way. On the other side of the pathway was another room filled with algae. The walls and the water were thickly coated with it. The only thing that wasn't stifles by the muck was a bed being held at the very top of the roof with chains. Death and I looked up to it, but then heard the snapping of a crab's claw. Death drew Harvester and did the same exact thing he did last time; ripped the cannon arm out of its socket in one movement. The arm spewed some kind of lime green blood and then it collapsed. Once it did, the chains holding the bed up lowered, and a creature popped out of it. There was a shell sitting on top, and it opened up revealing some kind of mollusk. Part of the inside was red, and the shell set itself sideways on the creatures back, making it look like a bow.

"You just interrupted my dreams." It finally said its voice really high and chilling as it fluttered away, using its shell as wings too. "Oh well, off to the show I suppose."

Once it got out of our sight, we exited the room. Another door with a trident on the front rose, and we walked through to find a platform- which was also caked in algae- with a cavern towards the end. Throughout the abyss were bright crimson red jellyfish, spiked with the same poisonous pricks that got me earlier. As I looked at the creature, Death turned his head to look behind us for some reason.

"I don't think those ones can shoot." He suggested. "You probably have to- _gah!"_ He was cut off by his own yell in pain. I turned to face him to see what was wrong, and apparently his proposition was wrong. The red fish floating over the cavern flung a blob of spikes; it hit Death in his skull. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed. I looked at the wound to find that the poison was rotting his hair and skin away, vividly showing his skull.

_"Death!" _I exclaimed.

He could barely speak, he only croaked out a few words. "I'm fine… it'll pass."

"Shut up." I smiled humorlessly, putting my hands on his cheeks. As I looked at the fallen man, I began to think again. About how he saved his brother's life, and how I selfishly left my family to die…

The red spikes began to make a high pitched noise as it decreased in size. Getting smaller and smaller, it finally disappeared into his skin, the flesh covering itself back over Death's skull. At first glance, it looked like nothing had wounded him. He opened his eyes for a slight moment, and I smiled to see that he was awakening. Then, unfortunately, they rolled back into his head and he blacked out.

"Damn, damn, damn, _damn,"_ I whispered. I grabbed Death's arms and pulled him towards a wall. I propped his torso up on the side of it so he was sitting up. I sat myself down next to him. I heard the Cheshire cat's voice on a small ledge above me.

"Why him?" He questioned his face dull and for one of the first times I've ever seen, he wasn't grinning; he just looked off over the cavern. "Of all people; why him?"

I paused. "…I-I don't know…" I looked down.

"Yes, well, I can tell he treats you well."

I smiled at that. "I know. But all that I ask of you is that you don't screw with him. He might seem like he is all tough; which he _is_… but he's a softy."

"Hmm." He acknowledged. "Why him?" He asked again.

"Because,"

"Because _why?_"

"You're not going to give up until I tell you, are you?"

"No." I could sense that he was smirking as he sat in my lap.

"Fine, you want to know? I l-like the way that he is, in every way. I'm the craziest person in Wonderland; even the craziest person in London, but he doesn't care. He knows what I did. He knows how long we have spent in the asylum. He knows that I'm a killer."

"Alice, I've been trying to tell you this for eleven years now. You're not a killer." He explained. "But, maybe Death will show you the path to your sanity."

"It's possible. I've been thinking about all the things that he has told me, and that is what stopped him from being killed from that poison."

"I did see that…" He trailed off. "Stay with him."

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Stay with him."

"I thought you hated him,"

"No. I've been trying to explain to you for eleven, almost twelve years now that you are innocent. But a quarter through your journey together, that man is helping you back on your path to recovery…" Before I could reply, he disappeared.

"Well- oh, _damn_ you and your teleporting." I said, knowing that no one was listening. I rolled my eyes and sat my head back against Death's shoulder. I curled up next to him, listening to his slow, calming heartbeat which quickly put me to sleep.

xxxxxxxx

I woke up lying down next to the Horseman on the ground. I was curled up into a ball and my head was resting on his chest. He had protectively wrapped both of his arms around my waist in his sleep. I awkwardly but gently pushed them off, listening to a deep growl in his throat. I sat up and looked around, realizing that we've been sleeping for at least a full day. I stood up and dusted myself off. I turned to Death, who was still comatose. I kneeled down and tried to wake him up.

"Death? Death! Get up!" I started to get worried. I pressed my head to his chest, making sure that he was still alive.

"He's still breathing, Alice." The cat said. I snapped my head up and turned around. I sat next to Death but facing the cat. "You must keep moving." the cat exclaimed.

"I know, I know. How though?"

"Figure it out." He grinned even wider and disappeared.

I sighed and looked around to make sure he was gone. I turned back to Death, and my heartbeat sped up. He wasn't awake… I could take his mask off. _No!_ I screamed in my head. _What the hell brain… _That's when I considered it. I thought of the pros and cons, weighing the possibilities. Before I knew what I was doing, I gently set my hands on his chest and began to move them upward. I slid them up to his shoulders, and then his neck. I wrapped my fingers tight around each side of the bottom of the mask, though hesitated to pick it up. Just one movement, and I would be able to see his face. Just one-

His hands wrapped around my wrists, making my fingers let go of the mask. His nails were digging into my skin. "Um, D-Death? Death!" I yell, trying to break free from his grasp. He sat up and looked at me with anger. Then, in one moment, his gaze turned to surprise as he dropped my arms.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I didn't know it was you."

I didn't know what other to say then, "That's alright."

"No, it's not, you're bleeding."

I looked down to my wrists and saw five small holes in each where Death's nails had marred them. "Oh! T-that's okay, I-I-I don't mind." I stuttered. He gingerly grabbed my right wrist and helped me stand up.

"What were you doing?" He asked.

"N-Nothing! Y-you wouldn't wake, so I was trying to wake you up, and-"

"You're panicking. Why?" All I could suppress was a loud sigh. He took a step closer to me and asked again, "Why?"

"Why… I-I don't know…" He just looked at me. I couldn't read his eyes. "Yes, I know. Well, I'm mad, so I have an excuse." I said playfully. He chuckled as I looked down at my feet. When I looked back up, meeting his eyes, I burst out in laughter.

"What?" Death asked me.

I shook my head, and in between laughs, I said, "I don't know… I think I love you."

Both of our laughs stopped.

"What?! No! Wait, I didn't mean-"

He cut me off by grabbing my waist and pulling me to him. He leaned down to set his masked forehead over mine. "And what if I told you I felt the _same?"_ He asked. I didn't know how to reply. "Would you be in the same denial?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Um…"

He chuckled lowly. He moved his forehead off of mine and pulled me back to him, now his arms around my shoulders. I heard a faint _click_, but ignored it. He let go and looked at me.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry!" He didn't have his mask on anymore. That _click _was him taking it off. I wanted to look away, but his eyes were boring into mine. I couldn't. That's when I stopped my panicking and began now looking at his face. His nose was strangely flat- which did make sense, since if it wasn't he wouldn't be able to put the mask on- and angular at the bottom. He looked at me, eyes narrow and his full lips twisted into a small smile. I took that moment to try and memorize every detail of his deathly handsome face.

"You are just too _shy, _sometimes, Alice." He finally said. I watched as his lips moved with the words. He chuckled. He stopped, and it was silent for a moment, but then he whispered. "Get _over _here."

He began walking towards me. I took one step back in surprise, but then my back was against the wall. I closed my eyes and cringed, unsure what he was going to do.

That state of panic mixed with relief when his lips met mine. I wasn't thinking at all, except the words, _oh, my, God,_ repeated multiple times. I felt quite childish as I tried to return the kiss. I felt him pull me closer to him. I let him without any protest. I felt that familiar mix of emotions down in my gut, which made me feel nauseous, though in a good way. He broke the kiss, but set his forehead on mine.

It looked like neither of us had any idea what to say. We were both just looking down at the ground. When I looked up, I saw that he was staring at me, but he looked away one second too late. I laughed and set my head on his chest.

"Did you know what happens when poisoned by those things?"

"No-"

"I could hear bits and pieces of people's conversations right nearby."

"Oh, that's good to know..." my heart raced and I looked away.

"Would you like to know what I heard?" He said, and I nodded. I didn't think he'd be mad about our conversation, but I was worried. "I know that you and the Cheshire cat had a little 'talk.'"

I chuckled. "Yeah, that's right…"

It was silent for a while, and then Death spoke again. "You know, everyone left in my family thinks that too,"

"I don't follow…"

"Oh, you know, how I'm a-" he moved his hands out and made air quotes, "-softie."

"Oh, you heard that much…"

"Yes," He chuckled and shook his head. "How am _I?"_

"You just hide that side of you, Death… at least from what I've seen."

"The Grim Reaper with a _nice _side?"

"Ironic, yes; but it's true." I said.

He kept his hands over one of mine. We walked to the edge of a nearby cliff. "Of all people," He began. "Why _me _to keep you from going forever insane?"

"You're the one who has helped me find the time, and time heals all wounds."

"Although Death is the one who inflicts them in the first place?"

I rolled my eyes. "Will you just stop it? You're not a sinner because of what you did. You chose to do what's right, damn you! If you didn't do that, would I be here with you right now?"

"No," He sighed. "I suppose not."

"So why are you so _guilty?_"

"I-"

"You know what, never mind that." I cut him off. "You know, we both have the same sort of situation. We both feel guilty because of something…"

"Well, if you mean it that way." He replied. I lifted my head from his and sat it on his shoulder. He went to grab his head. "Oh, damn. My mask."

"I was hoping you'd forget," I teased. He smiled as he climbed up the edge, getting back to the spot where he passed out. He grabbed his mask from the edge of the wall, and jumped back down. Walking up to me, wrapped his arm around my shoulder and turned to face the other end of the cavern. We started walking towards it as I held Death as close as I could to me.

We got to the other side and there was another cot lifted to the top. Another crab came jumping out of the sand. Death put his hand over Harvester's handle, but I stopped him.

"I've got it," I said. "You're still recovering. He sighed, but then released his grip. I drew the Vorpal Blade, and stood in front of the crab. It growled, then charged towards me. I tumbled to the ground, dodging its attack. It was jumping over me and in that instant, I lunged the blade up into its chest. It screeched as it tumbled a few feet from where I lay. I went over and pulled my blade out of the creature's chest, the still beating heart coming with it. He looked at me and chuckled, and vise versa, really.

"How's your head?" I asked. Before he could answer, the cot on the ceiling began to fall. It hit the floor and another clam was resting.

It opened itself up. "We still need the star…" It told us.

"You're welcome!" Death replied as it floated away. "Now you," He turned towards me. "I have an idea."

He began to back me up, pressing my back against a wall. "…Death? Why are you-" I was cut off by Death pulling his Harvester and pinned my neck to the wall. It wasn't close enough to hurt me, but it sure was enough to get my heart racing.

"Let's see what you've got." He whispered in my ear with that same seductive tone, making me widen my eyes.

"Death? I'm not a Horseman." I laughed.

"Oh, come on Alice. It's not like I'm going to hurt-" I cut him off by slipping my head through Death's scythe and the wall, then running behind a large rock. He didn't see me, so I got an idea.

"Where did you go… I know you're here, I can _sense _it." He walked past the rock, and I tackled him to the ground. I sat with my forearm holding both of his hands down; I got the Vorpal Blade out and put it a few inches from his bulky neck.

"I'm surprised." He stated.

I leaned in and whispered in his ear, "You're an ass." I moved my blade from his neck and used the tip to flick the mask from his face. His eyes were narrowed at me, a smug grin on his face. He moved his hand behind me and gripped Harvester, which was sitting a few feet away from us. He grabbed the scythe and turned so I was lying on my back. He split Harvester into two and stabbed each into the rock, using them to pin my hands to the ground.

"Oh, damn you." I said, using common sense and not moving my hands. He stood up, dusted himself off and sat back down on the floor next to me.

"You know, I've had _much _more training then eleven years."

"I can tell. Now will you let me go?" All he did was press his hands tightly to the grip of each scythe and held himself over me.

"You're confusing. At one moment, you can doubt yourself so much like you do, then in another moment you can have _such_ an ego." I snickered.

"Just to confuse you," he replied as he lowered himself so his lips could meet mine. He kissed me only for a few moments until he got back to his knees and ripped the scythes from the ground, clipping them to his belt in the process. He stood up, and once I got to my feet, Harvester was back in his hands.

"You can do better than that," He yelled from a few yards away as I drew my blade. One of the scythes came towards my head at full speed. I put my hand to the top of the flat side from the blade and Harvester crashed in between my hands, not even leaving a dent in either weapons. I moved my hand from the flat side of the blade, letting the scythe slide off, leaving an incredible ear-piercing noise. Harvester hit the ground, and I spun around so I was behind Death, holding the blade to his neck once more.

"You're better than I expected," He told me. Unfortunately, it caught me off guard, so he grabbed Harvester and spun around so he was facing me. Gently, he put the sharp side of his scythe to my back, pulling me to him.

"I'm guessing the poison has 'run its course by now'." I repeated.

"I believe that a few days after being poisoned, you have this insane rush to fight." He said his voice vigorous as he picked up his mask and put it back on.

I laughed. "It's probably death withdrawal."

"Pun intended-"

"Let's go," I laughed.

We walked through another corridor and there was another mollusk, sitting on an empty light pink clam. "Help me, Alice!" It cried, making no reference that Death was there. "This poster for the show, it's ruined. If I can't put it back together, Carpenter will grind my bones."

"We didn't need to know that." Death cut in. "How can we provide you with assistance?"

"The pieces are on that ledge. I don't know what order they go in." Death and I then went over to another flattened rock, filled with flat pieces with writing on them. We picked them up one by one, and walked them over to the mollusk. Once all of them were to the right place, they were completely miscellaneous.

"The proper order of things is often a mystery to me. You too?" The Cheshire cat said, speaking to Death.

Death rolled his eyes. "Sure." His voice buried in sarcasm.

The cat didn't answer. He just walked over to Death and sat right in front of his feet.

"What do you want now?" No answer. Death picked him up and shook him. "What?!" He exclaimed, making me laugh. The cat curled up into a ball and lay in Death's hands.

"'Guess he's changed his opinion on you." I said as Death stroked the cat.

"That's good; one less headache for me." He replied. I chuckled and shook my head as he sat him down. We walked towards the creature once more.

"Quickly, they could be here any minute!" she exclaimed. Death and I conversed and moved the pieces until the poster was correct.

"Let us resume our place before our adoring fans at the theatre." It stated. Behind her, another fish jaw opened, making another dark path before us. The clam floated through, Death and I following close behind so we could attend the show.


	10. Chapter 10

The murky water darkened as we kept walking. We reached a small cavern with a stone walkway to the other side. Before we could walk onto it, the walrus that was sleeping on the stage and Carpenter crashed into it, making it fall into the abyss.

"My god, you're not an impresario, you're a killer! The mastermind of a criminal enterprise!" I exclaimed.

"This world is not so either/or, Alice."

"And we've done our bidding."

"You did a few errands; got your hands dirty, big deal. The show distrac-ulates the crowd, it's a shame you'll miss it. You need to deal with those sailors… It's your time." Carpenter said, making Death growl and give him a stare I'm positive no one would _ever _want to be on the receiving end of.

"Time? Time?" The walrus spoke. "The time has come to talk of ships, and… and, and vegetables, and whether pigs have wings, and so on."

"Enough of that, Walrus. You start wailing about there being too much sand on the beach; I'll have your blubber for breakfast!"

"Shame on you, Carpenter; you made a promise!" I said.

"I had no _choice!"_ He defended. "One can't always do as one would like. I would have thought you'd known that by now." He closed his eyes, and the Walrus swam away. We walked through a gate while Death snarled and shook his head, like trying to get something off of his mind.

"What's-" I was cut off by the sound of the rusty gates slam shut. We turned to see that it had shut, and then spun back around. It was a graveyard; tombs and shipwrecks all around. Chains strung from boat to boat and the water above us had a gray tint to it, like a thunderstorm as occurring on the surface. We saw faintly in the distance two lightning blue teardrops floating around. Underneath them, rocks and sand began to rise up for a few moments, and just barely, I saw a dark spot in the water, forming what looked like a man.

I pulled out the Pepper Grinder and tried to shoot it, but the ammo went straight through its torso. "Alice, _you_ can't confront a ghost." He told me.

"Oh, and I'm sure _you _can." I said sarcastically. He knelt down and pressed his fists to the ground. A small green hue hovered over the sand, as if it was smoke, and three warriors popped out. They were skeletons that left a trail of bones as they ran toward the ghost. They must have had some sort of different power then Death did, because they easily were wounding the thing. Death and I watched as the creature was on the verge of dying. Right before it collapsed, in its hands formed a circular black ball with a wick on the top. The ghost threw the bomb towards us; Death and I were backing up as it hit the ground, releasing some yellow gas. I started to get light-headed, and my vision blurred. I looked over to Death, and by the look of it he was having the same thing happen to him.

"It's…" I heard Death croak.

"Go… Now," I told him, and as soon as I did, I collapsed. Everything went black.

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_"Who am I?" I said, looking at the Queen of Hearts. She had flesh horns growing out of her black hair and tentacles growing from her torso. Her limb arms rested on a deep purple arm rest in the throne covered in spades. She looked at me with cold, hard eyes. _

_"Off with her head." She hissed. _

_The floorboards cracked beneath my feet, making me jump back. The queen nearly shot me with a blue flaming streak coming from her fleshy hand as she rose from her throne. I jumped out of the way in time, and moved behind one of the pillars in the room. I knelt to the ground and pulled out a weapon that coursed with power. It was a dark yellow with a circle held at the top by two pins that lead to the rest of it. I held in to the grip and stood up. I pressed my back to the pillar and looked behind my shoulder. The queen stared at me with evilly, so I looked down. I saw in the corner of my eye that she looked away from me towards her throne, and I knew that it was my time to move. I spun away from the pillar and used the weapon to blast her with a shadowy purple beam. The force of the weapon made the tentacle that held the Queen up malfunction and throw her around like a ragdoll. It then slammed her to the ground face down. An amethyst mist came out of her into me. The power surged through me as I enveloped the smoke._

_The Queen was sucked back into her throne and it exploded, knocking me off my feet. I looked back up and saw a completely different face where the Queen's throne once was. It was a fleshy tan with bright yellow eyes and cracked teeth. It moved its head, cracking its neck and then it opened its mouth. Inside was a pale green, bald head with a long nose. It was the Hatter. Then he opened his mouth, and what was inside shocked me. The face looked at me with its emerald green eyes, pale skin, and her eyebrows were twisted into an angry look. It was me. My features, my look, my bright green eyes, it was me._

_"I rule wonderland alone." My clone face told me. "Your interference will not be tolerated. This realm is for grownups; raw, well-ordered, ruthless, careening on the jagged edge of reality. Self pitying daydreamers are not wanted here; they cannot _survive_ here." _

_I got to my knees and began to cry. I had gotten this far in my journey and these insults were just too much for me. I had lost the white rabbit, gryphon…_

_"You fear the truth. You live in the shadows. Your pathetic attempts to reclaim your sanity have failed. Retreat to the sterile safety of your self-delusions, or risk inevitable inhalation. If you destroy me, you destroy yourself! Leave now and some hollow part of you may survive. Stay, and I will Break you down! You. Will. Lose. Yourself._ Forever!"

_"No!" I cried, as I stood up to face the beast in battle…_

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I finally woke up to an ear piercing cry. But strange enough, it was _mine. _Death snapped up and wrapped his arms around me as we sat in the sandy ground. I buried my face into his chest and cried. I felt weak, though telling myself that only made it worse.

"Alice, are you okay?" Death asked. I couldn't answer, so I turned away and wiped my eyes. Death sat still for a moment then spoke. "Did you dream of a memory too?"

I looked at him. "I- the Queen…"

"When you were young?" He asked, and I nodded. "It's okay. I had a bad memory come to me too." He said in an attempt to make me feel better. The fact that he was trying though, was half the battle.

"Like what?" My voice became clearer so I could speak. Then I realized which one, of course. "I'm sorry…"

"For what?" He asked.

"For what you had to do for your kin." He didn't answer; he just looked away and let a lock of hair cover his eye over his mask. "Don't you ever talk to your brothers and sister about it?"

He immediately locked eyes with me. "Never."

"What? Why?"

"They might be the only family I have, true, but I don't speak to my brothers about my self-hate. They look up to me as a mentor, not a softie. But there are those occasions where they can read my emotions through my mask."

"You wear your mask? Even around _them?"_

"Of _course!_ Never will I take it off around them."

"But they were with you when…"

"Strife has the same problem. He's one of my younger brothers, and he hides his face from all of us as well." I nodded and stayed silent for a while.

"It's not fun," I finally said. "To lose your family the way we both did."

"No, it isn't. Come on, we have to keep moving." He got to his feet then helped me up. He kept his arm around me as we walked through the graveyard. We came across a grave that had another ghost standing in front of it. He wore a striped shirt and he had a long, musky grey beard. His skin was icy blue, and he wore a tattered white sailor's hat.

"Please, Alice, help me fulfill my pledge. I need my men! They might be hostile at first, but their true souls are trapped… You must release them."

"Do they want to be at peace?" I asked.

"They do not know their own minds. What's true of the living is often what's true of the dead."

Another gate opened and Death and I walked through it silently. On the other side were staircases leading up to three stone doors. Each one opened up, and Death and I walked up to one. On the inside was a huge arena with a sailor at the bottom.

"Come on," He told me. "We will use necromancy again." We dropped down to the arena and saw the ghost. Death pressed his fist to the ground and summoned his warriors. They began to slash at the spirit as it uncapped another bomb.

"…No." I said. I ran over and sliced the bomb open with the Vorpal Blade and it released the toxic gas. I got out of it, holding my breath. The ghosts and Death's warriors passed out from the fumes.

Death started to chuckle and shook his head. "Stupid ghouls."

He walked over to the fallen sailor and drew Harvester out. The other end of his weapon (I now was just noticing) was a spear made out of the same metal that made up the other side. Death paused, then drove the tip into the spirit's torso and it jolted. The body became material as it lay fatally wounded by the spear. The ghost floated out of its body, and it thanked us for setting it free then floated away into the darkness.

Death and I went through the other two doors, setting more spirits free, uniting the sailors once more. "Come on men," The Captain told the other ghosts. "Back to the ship." They disappeared into the sea, leaving only me and Death. We walked back through the gates, and another one opened. I started to think again, but not about anything unpleasant. As we kept walking towards the next gate, I struck up a conversation.

"…I haven't given it much thought," I said to him. "But why are you here? Not like I don't _want _you here… but I'm curious."

"It was the Council. They know that your mind has become very powerful over time."

"And that can cause an early _apocalypse?_"

"Not _exactly._ The apocalypse is where there will be a war between Heaven and Hell. However, your hallucinations could come to life, and into the real world, and destroy the Third Kingdom."

"That's not-"

"The Council has strong powers. They can see into the future and into the Third Kingdom to see who is having an effect on the balance. It's never happened; where a human is a threat to the balance. You have a very strong mind….the Council actually considered having me kill you, but for some reason I needed to negotiate with them so we could just kill the _source, _and not _you." _

"You… why did you save me?"

"I don't know… I usually never turn down a license to kill. But you were different."

"Well, thank you. I'm glad you did that." It was silent for a few moments until we got through the next gate. On the other side was a dead end with another sapphire blue mushroom sitting at the end. We walked up to it and sprang up. At the top was another slide, sharply leading down into the dark. I was about to go behind Death and push him, but he beat me to it. He shoved me into the slide, but I grabbed his hand on the way down dragging him with me. I laughed on the way down, but Death stayed silent, looking through the dark. We got to the end of the slide, and there was a rib cage blocking our way. Death stuck his feet out and snapped them on the way down. We hit the floor with a thud, and my head rested on Death's chest as we laughed. Suddenly, we heard a dark rumble come from the sand, and I snapped up.

"I don't see any oil anywhere." Death stated.

"Could this be…?" Something began to rise out of the sandy bottom. It was a cylinder of oil held up by pipes streaming smoke out of the top. Doll heads were scattered throughout the grease and four arms bent into right angles held it up and four arms coming out of a hole at the top. Each head made a low gurgling noise, and it began to walk towards us. Death drew Harvester and ran over to the creature, striking it; nothing happened. The ruin then grabbed Death and sucked him into the oil. I ran over; it let Death go, and then picked me up. I used my knife to stab it from the outside, and he let me go. I fell to the ground, and I felt myself go into hysteria. I stood up and grabbed the Vorpal Blade, and I began to slash at the creatures heads. They fell off one by one, and I saw that Death had gone into Reaper form to help me kill the beast. He used his scythe to rip through the metal piping that was on top of the creature and cut it in half, leaving it spewing oil.

Death and I went back to normal, and we walked through the pathway underneath the slide. We saw the townspeople from Barrel Bottom with only one difference made to them; they were dead. Every single one of them was slaughtered. They either had a saw ripping through their jaw or a hook imbedded through their lip. We walked through a doorway, stepping out of the way to avoid getting a fish in our face. We got to another room, crowded with dead fish.

"Every picture tells a story," The Cheshire cat said as he appeared on a ledge above us. "Sometimes we don't like the ending; sometimes we don't understand it…"

I looked at Death as he stared at the massacre. I could tell by the look in his eyes that it reminded him of the fact that he slaughtered his own kin.

"Stop thinking!" I exclaimed, making him snap up. "It's not worth thinking about the past. Keep moving forward, Death."

"Death is the road block to 'forward'. If you're Death, there is no 'moving forward'."

"Yes, there is…" I said, a smirk wrapping my face.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." He replied. I grabbed his arm and started to run. He chuckled as he extended his arm, bringing that turquoise flame rising out of the ground. Despair came running out, and Death mounted, throwing me on the horses back in the process. He galloped through, stepping over the bodies.

"Does this count?" I yelled over the sound of wind passing my ears.

"It just might." He yelled back, making me laugh. We ran through Barrel Bottom until we found ourselves inside of the theatre. We dismounted Despair, and waked to the entrance. I saw the fish-bottle floating around, greeting us into the show. We walked in and saw the set with a crescent moon smoking a cigar on the stage. Living fish filled the seats, so Death and I stood in the back.

"Ladies and gentlemen," We heard Carpenter say out of nowhere. "Welcome to the show!" The clam's that we had to awake walked onto the stage.

"Rather bizarre show…" I said to Death, and he chuckled. One of the main clams went to the front, and the walrus fell on top of it crushing it to death. The walrus was wearing a bone mask, and had a scythe in his hand.

"Well, I find that insulting," Death said, narrowing his eyes. I laughed and turned back to the stage.

"That's quite enough of that, I think; enough preliminaries. Here's the performance you've been waiting for; proves I'm without prejudice and have a fine sense of humor." The walrus said, glaring at Death. "Sword and crown are worthless here, I invite everyone to dance. Laborers, lawyers, church and gown all make their little prance. This life is full of random deaths; and heaps of grief and shame. So few are soothed by the accident; they want someone to blame. Fire, plague and strange disease; drowned, murdered, or, if you please. A long fall down the basement stairs; none are expected, no one cares. I often must work very hard; sweat running down my skin. After the dance, I must rest; and the eating can begin…well, time to eat. Death is the ultimate equalizer. Everyone deserves to be eaten!"

"Get in line, creatures!" Carpenter exclaimed. "All will be served… so to speak."

"Wicked thing. Feasting while Wonderland is destroyed!"

"I'm not the enemy you seek, Alice. I tried to hide this bit of Wonderland from that_ beast!_ Appeasement's never clean. We all must play our assigned roles. Are you a pawn or a queen? An idiot or a practiced fool? However this turns out, consider the prospect that you two have been mislead! Then ask, by whom?" The train then headed straight for the auditorium.

"Oh, no, what has set that bloody train in motion?! Where has it come from?!"

"It arrived when you arrived. And it's more terrible than even you can currently imagine! The death of a _dream!_ Caterpillar may know how!" Carpenter said as I moved into Death. The train ran full speed into the theatre. And that was the last thing I saw.

xxxxxxxx

"What? Oh, the blood in my mouth tastes like bile! Where's the brute that hit me nanny?" I asked the breast-implanted, tattooed, bleach blonde woman next to me as we sat on a cart, leading away from a burning building.

"He's out cold." Nanny replied.

"What did he want?"

"What they all want. Money they didn't earn…what were you thinking, butting into that mess? You could've been killed!"

"Nanny, my mind's in pieces. I still have terrible visions, and I need to know! For my sake and Death's!"

"Death? Oh, never mind that. The fire? Same as always; you need to move on. I did. Anyways, I've heard that around town, there have been insane creatures running around, and around the world! Some kind of creature made out of oil and heads from children's dolls…insane, I know. It might be just one of those tabloids, but the rumor is going around so I thought I might as well tell you."

My heart stopped. Death was right. "No…" I lied.

"Keep your eyes peeled, girl."

I jumped out of the cart and onto the ground. I saw posters around town, reading about creatures spawning out of the ground made out of grease and muck, and to stay alert.

_Damn it! The Council, Death, they were right! This is bad. Very bad. And to think that I caused it! He should have just killed me. _I thought to myself, shaking my head as I walked to a gate. It read _Radcliffe _on the front, and I opened it. I walked up the steps and knocked on the door.

"Yes? Who is it?" The intercom rang.

"Alice Liddell, Mr. Radcliffe." I replied, and the door creaked open. Mr. Radcliffe was a friend of my father's, and he was a real ass to me through the years I've been in the asylum. I walked through the door and walked up the steps. At the end of a hallway, in a room lit by a fire place, sat Radcliffe. He wore a light tan bathrobe over a stained striped shirt. His ice white hair was covered by a nightcap, and he sat writing something down with a quill. On his desk was a white candle, and to its left was a tattered old rabbit with ears like a hound's and it was wearing a maroon vest. It was my rabbit. The only thing that survived from the fire. I walked over to the chair parallel to Radcliffe's desk, and set my hand down.

"You do have my rabbit!" I confronted.

"Forgotten your manners, and what else I wonder? You abandoned it at Rutledge Asylum, my dear. We've been over this before."

I don't know how, but the fire in the room went out, and I was sitting in a chair in Radcliffe's office. Although, he wasn't there. "Did I rip is head off?" I asked myself aloud. "I…wanted to… what's left of my brain will explode; mankind will suffer all because of _me._"

I walked out of the room, and it looked nothing like when I came in. Everything was dark; tattered wallpaper covering the walls and boxes surrounding the floors, bottles sitting everywhere. I finally managed to get back outside. It was snowing, and down the street I saw a faint orange hue. I walked towards it, and in a corner between two buildings was a mushroom taller than me, growing out of thick, boiling hot grease.

"Damn it…" I whispered. "I was hoping it was a tabloid." I walked away from it.

There were huge rocks, coated with oil making a pathway. Coming out of the sky was a swirl of rocks and pebbles where the sun should be. Behind me, I heard people screaming and running away from the black hole. I heard a faint whistle, and then looked at the sky again. It was the train that has caused the destruction of my mind, and was about to start the destruction of mankind as well.

I looked up at the sky in pure rage and agony. My head dropped, and I heard Death come and stand next to me.

"It's okay. If we move fast enough, we'll-"

"This bloody ruin! It's corrupting Wonderland, the balance, everything!"

"Seeking refuge from the wicked worlds? Perhaps things only look like they've gone to Hell." The Cheshire cat said, materializing right in front of us.

"You're not that good of a liar, and I'm not that stupid, but something a bit less calamitous would have been welcome."

"This unmitigated disaster is your doing. And it will get worse. Your train keeps a hellish schedule. Get moving; time waits for no one. The change has begun."

"Is there really no hope?" Death cut in.

"There's even less." Cat replied, and then turned to me. "If fear paralyzes you, the Third Kingdom is lost…"

I heard another low snarl come from behind me. I spun around and jabbed the Vorpal Blade underneath the three heads of the Menacing ruin, popping all of them out at once. I started to walk again, no even waiting for Death.

"You're upset, aren't you?" he asked when he caught up.

"Why does this have to happen to _everyone?_ I would rather have myself suffer in my own hell then have everyone else die…"

"Well, arguing about it isn't going to solve it. If we move quickly, we could just _barely _make it."

"How much time until…"

"In your time, only a matter of a few days until all of the Third Kingdom will be destroyed."

"Damn."

"Come on," Death ordered as he summoned Despair. We both mounted the horse and ran through the shattered end of Wonderland. The rocks were caked in oil, but the war horse had no problem getting around. There were caverns throughout the land, but each had some sort of platform that Despair could gallop across. We kept running until we reached along the way another large odd looking ruin. Death banished Despair, and didn't stop running. His feet touched the ground as the horse disappeared into the rock, and Death swung Harvester and sliced the creature in half. It collapsed to the ground, and I saw a small table in the middle of the place we stopped, and on it was a big teapot with a clock on the side.

"What was that?" Death finally asked.

"A Colossal ruin," I said, staring at the teapot. I picked it up and accidentally clicked a button on the side. A boiling tea ball shot out of the top, and exploded on a wall.

"New weapon?" Death asked.

"I suppose." I started to laugh and fire the tea everywhere without aiming.

"Wow, you're mature."

"Well, it's fun!"

"Come on, we have to keep moving." Death said, bringing Despair back as I put the new weapon away. The horse started to run again, and he didn't stop until we began to notice things being familiar. The horse began to walk as we saw railroad tracks, and wilting cherry blossoms…

"Is this the Vale?" Death asked.

"It can't be…Oh, look at what had become of my_ beautiful _valley!" I replied, realizing that it was the Vale of Tears.

"The sight, the stink, the terrible sound…What have you imagined, Alice?" cat finally said.

Despair started to run again, and we sat in silence until we reached a set of rocks. These were tinted with green and blue mist and a white smoke enveloping it to the top with water trickling down it. There was a glass model at the front, so Death and I walked up to it.

"You are familiar with the saying that smoking stunts your growth?" The figure said.

"Adults assault children with that adage, usually while they've got a pipe stuck in their mouths." I replied. Death narrowed his eyes at the statue to see who was speaking, but I knew it was Caterpillar.

"I won't ask either of you to inhale…let the smoke envelop you." The mist surrounded Death and I as we began to shrink in size, getting smaller and smaller… and the smoke decreased my vision until everything went white.


	11. Chapter 11

Japanese writing fell from the cloudy skies and koi swam in the waters below. The rocks had swirls and patterns drawn on them and teapots lay broken everywhere. Death and I stood, looking over the land.

"Okay, that's impressing." He finally said.

I rolled my eyes and smiled as the Horseman called Despair. The horse showed up and we mounted. He began to run, jumping over a small cavern every once and a while. We ran along until we reached two pillars leading into a room with blood-stained sand. Death sent Despair away, and we walked through the door. From above, a creature with four legs and a stinger landed in front of us. It held a machete and its hair were pulled back with a mask over its face. Death pulled out Harvester, switched it into two, and used them to stab two of the wasps at the same time, like he did with the Madcap's. They fell to the ground, and I walked up to him.

"Okay, you have to let me try." I said, smirking.

"What do you mean?" He replied.

"You _said _I couldn't learn with a dagger!"

He chuckled and shook his head. "You're welcome to." He handed me one half of Harvester and I grasped it, but it immediately fell to the ground.

"Agh, That thing's heavy." I tried to pick it up again, and I managed to get it off the ground.

"Well, that's not bad," He said as he took the scythe back. "Before I leave, you'll be able to wield it now that you have brought it up." I smiled, but my heart raced. The only time I ever thought about Death leaving was when I entered the Tundraful.

"Easy. Come on, we don't have much time to get this done." He recalled Despair and we got on. Trotting through the place, the Cheshire cat appeared on Despair's fleshy neck.

"'One who saves a single soul saves the universe.' Remember?" Cat said.

"No, I don't," I said from behind Death. Cat grinned then disappeared.

"It doesn't matter anyways. We have to keep moving. We're out to save your kin."

"It would've been easier if you just killed me." I stated, trying to sound nonchalant.

Death turned around to look at me. "What did you just say?"

"I said it would've been easier if-"

"I heard you, I heard you."

"Well then why did you say-?"

"That's not the point! Why do you think I should've killed you?"

"People in the real world are probably dying right now. If you would've just killed me in the first place, people wouldn't have already lost their loved ones…"

"Like we did." Death finished for me as he sat back wards in the saddle as Despair kept running.

"Exactly."

"Well…" He trailed off.

"What? I-" Death cut me off by banishing the horse and landing on top of me on the cold, hard rock. He drew one half of Harvester and held it to my neck, closer than he ever has before. He took off his mask with his free hand, and looked at me right in the eye with a dead serious face. He moved the scythe closer to my neck so it made contact with the skin.

_He's going to do it._ I thought. _He's going to kill me. It will be better off… just do it Death…_ I closed my eyes and hoped for the worst.

"The universe is a cruel place for the both of us." He whispered in my ear. "I'm the Grim Reaper, a killer, and I'm probably physically strongest out of my brothers. I've taken the lived of thousands, even millions, without a care in the universe. Yet _you,_ I could never be strong enough to kill."

He took Harvester from my neck, and clipped it back to his belt without moving himself or his gaze. I reached up and wrapped my hands around his neck, and pulled his mouth to mine. We lay on the ground for a few moments until Despair rose out of the ground and used his hoof to kick Death in the arm. He moved his lips away from me and turned his head away from the horse.

"We're coming, Despair," Death said as he slipped his mask back on. He stood and helped me up, and then we both mounted, and the horse began to run again.

"Your_ horse _too?" I asked him, and he gave me a miniscule shrug. "If you ask why you're the only one that can convince me that I am not crazy, then why am I the only one you take your…your mask off in front of?"

"As you know," He began. "I am the oldest of my brothers. They might have been the ones that rode with me into battle, or the only family I've had for a long time, but they don't even know half of who I _really_ am."

"Why-"

"Because if they did, if you did, none of you would look at me the same way as you used to."

I decided to leave it at that. Despair began to run, and whenever a wasp tried to attack us, we didn't even stop; Death used Harvester to rip the thing in half before they could react. There was a wasp with more armor on it; when Death tried to cut through, it exposed skin, but didn't wound the creature. Despair circled around it, so I pulled out the Vorpal Blade and rammed it deep into its chest. It screamed in pain and then collapsed.

"That one had more armor then War, and _that's _surprising." Death said, rolling his eyes. "Alright, let me see it."

"What do you mean?"

"The blade."

A smirk came over my face. "'You're welcome to try.'" I mimicked. I held out the blade by the tip and Death wrapped his fingers around the handle. Once he did, he slightly flinched and dropped it.

"It's charged?" Death asked, shaking his hand.

"Oh…didn't I tell you?"

"You're a little tease, you know that right?"

"Yes, yes, I do." I replied, laughing. A doorway opened, and we got through it. Small ants made of paper crowded the room, but didn't pose as a threat.

"Speak with the elder," One of them said. "He knows things."

We walked out, and on the other side was a door bolted shut, and an old paper ant sitting on the top. "Your victories in combat and conundrums suggest your fitness to confront the challenges ahead." The elder said. "You can save us…I'll open the path."

The door swung open; Death summoned his horse and we ran through. Despair trotted as I turned around in the saddle to face Death.

"So, did you enjoy that?" I asked, and he knew what I meant.

"No, not at all. I hated every moment of it. I just wanted to see if I could scare you."

"Well, then you didn't succeed."

"Why is that?"

"Because I deserved it."

"Alice, we're not going to argue about this again. You don't deserve to die. Wonderland's corruption isn't your fault. It's not your doing; it was your cat's-"

Once he said that, my vision of him began to cut out. It switched between Wonderland and a scene where a man broke into my house, and threw an oil lamp onto the carpet, starting a fire. The man's face was blacked out, but his body was scrawny and he wore circular glasses. I shook my head, trying to get the vision to go away.

"Alice?!" Death yelled, grabbing my shoulders. My vision finally came back and I looked straight ahead. "What's wrong? What did you see?"

"It wasn't the cat." I croaked. "It was a man who broke into my house, and threw an oil lamp. It wasn't the cat…"

Death stopped moving. "Who…?"

"I don't know…" Right then, we reached a door, and Death helped me off the horse as I stared off into space. We saw the elder standing at the doorway.

"The wicked wasps lay siege above us, and control the peaks to East and West. You must defeat them to reach caterpillar's retreat."

When I didn't answer, Death nudged me in the arm and I snapped back. "What? Oh, yes, right. I suppose we must go to the mountain top, as it won't come to us."

"We have faith that Caterpillar, the strange and wondrous, helps those in need. One day, we'll have proof. Purity of heart is to will one thing. To approach his sacred aerie, you must confront the savage Daimyos, who prevents our access to his power. I'll open the entrance to the Sacred Caves, where your journey begins…"

"Good, it's only beginning." Death said as he brought me closer to him. I shook my head then chuckled as we walked through the door. On the other side was an open cavern with a bridge made of scrolls, rolling along to another set of rocks. I walked onto it, but the scroll bubbled up and singed the side of my boot, scorching my skin. I jumped back, running into Death.

"You might want to use your Reaper form."

"Are you okay? Did it burn you?"

"No…" I lied. Death narrowed his eyes at me, and then used the tip of his boot to lightly tap where the burn was; my leg gave out and I fell to the ground.

"Right," He replied as he kneeled down to inspect the wound.

"Death, it's fine, I can walk-"

"Alice, you're a _terrible_ liar."

"I know…" I whispered, trying to hide the pain in my voice. He stood up. He helped me stand and switched to his opposing form. The bone wings lifted us from the ground and we got to the other side of the cavern. Once we were to the other side, I felt a sting where the Drifting ruin had poisoned me. I looked to find a bronze arrow imbedded deep into my right arm. Death took the Tea cannon that I had equipped in the destroyed Vale, and used it to shoot the wasp archer out of the sky. I grabbed my arm and slightly winced, but it stung terribly.

I just laughed, trying to cover up the pain. "Alice, you are really getting your ass kicked today aren't you?"

"Yes, I am." I reached to grab his shoulder with my left hand to keep myself from tipping over, and then I was sucked into a nightmare.

X-

_The room was completely black, and Death stared at a face with razor sharp teeth and bright yellow eyes and mouth. Death looked around the room without any sense of panic, just blank nonchalant eyes._

_"And so you have come, bearing your sin like a badge of honor," The face said in the shadows. "What do you seek, pale rider?"_

_"The return of mankind," Death replied, his voice deeper then what it was._

_"To a barren planet, short of life? Humans are weak and simple; they would not survive this resurrection- nor do they deserve it!"_

_"That is not ours to judge. I do this to spare War from the Council's punishment."_

_"And what of the Nephilim? Would you save but one, and not the rest?" The face questioned._

_"The Nephilim are a threat to the balance."_

_"If we had taken Eden, none of this would've happened. Yet you rode against us- slaughtered our flesh, then bound our souls in your amulet!"_

_"Who are you?" Death asked._

_"I think you know. Once you called me brother."_

_"Absalom…"_

_"I have forsaken that name. Now, I am Corruption. The day you raised your scythe against us, I was born. And soon, I will be all…"_

X-

I gasped as I regained my vision. I looked at Death, who stared at me with wide eyes as he pulled the arrow out of my arm.

"What did you see?"

"Who's-" I cut myself off. _Death was older, he was regaining mankind… _I thought. _That was his future… why was he bringing mankind back from extinction? Why is War being punished?!_

"Who is who?" He asked.

"N-nothing. Come on."

"Wait a minute, Alice, you're wounded." He pressed as he wrapped my arm and the burn on my leg with tattered cloth. "Now, you know you can tell me anything. What did you see?"

"Nothing," I repeated.

"Alice..."

I shut my eyes and dropped my head. "I... can't tell you."

"And why is that?"

"Because it's…not…okay, we should get going. We don't have much time."

He finished wrapping up my wound, and then brought Despair to our sight. "You're telling me later. Let's go." We ran through a circular stone door. It was quiet for a while as the horse trotted along, keeping us at a fast pace.

"So," I said after a few minutes of silence. "I have a question. My family and I believed in Christianity. You being one of the Four Horsemen, is any of it true? I know it's a strange question, but…"

"Yes…there is a Heaven, a Hell, and there will be an Apocalypse."

"When?"

"That's another dilemma. No one knows. It will be instant, no one can stop it."

"Yeah, I didn't think you would…anyways," _Don't say anything about it._ "Did you have any…" _Alice. Don't say it! _"Other close... family besides War, Fury, and Strife?" _Alice! _"You know, before…"

"Only one. He was _one _of the last I had killed."

"What was his name?"

"Absalom."

My heart dropped. I had to know more. "I see, and is War a kind of person who is always messing everything up?"

"Definitely."

"Interesting…"

"Now why are you asking so many questions?"

_Idiot! You should listen to your brain more often._ "I'm just curious."

"Right. Now, what did you see back there?"

"I told you it was nothing."

"Obviously, it's not. You keep thinking to the point where you can't hear your surroundings…" He paused. "Was it about Absalom by any chance?"

"No." I coldly replied.

"Alice…"

"We need to keep moving. We don't have much time,"

Death rolled his eyes and sighed as we entered a room with pasty gray walls and bright blue broken pots buried beneath the rubble. In the middle was one large rock the same gray color as the walls with a pallet standing in front of it. Japanese writing imbedded into it, and the grooves began to color with deep black ink. The color popped out of the rock and it formed into a wasp. These ones weren't anywhere near the size of the ones wielding machetes, but they had insanely large stingers. More formed from the ink, and Death drew Harvester to slash them. I got out the Hobby Horse and smashed the pallet to pieces. Before it was destroyed, one jumped out and stung me in the back of the neck. I didn't pass out, but my vision began to blur. I kneeled to the ground and grabbed my head. Death killed the others that had spawned- along with the nests, of course- and came over to me. I lost sight, and saw clips of things that I didn't recognize. A man ten times bigger than I was with circular glasses and oil spilling out of his mouth; My sister, Lizzie sitting on the Queen of Hearts' throne with a blood red crown floating over her head; A group of little girls running around in front of a brightly colored house with their heads cut with blood spilling out of them; Death and I walking through what looked like a combination of Wonderland and London…

"Alice, you need to pay more attention!" Death exclaimed as he yanked the stinger out of my neck, sitting next to me. "You're going to drive me mad one of these days!"

"How is _that_, Death?"

"It's a figure of speech. Even I haven't gotten injured as many times at you. Do you know how worried-" He was cut off by an ink wasp stinging him in the arm. He shook his head and held his eyes shut. After a minute or two, he opened his eyes again. I scooted over to him and pulled the stinger out.

"'Death, you need to pay more attention! You're going to drive me mad one of these days!' Idiot..." I laughed.

"I already almost killed you once. I'm not afraid to do it again."

"Um, yes, you actually are."

"Well, yes…I am. You could tell I was lying though..." He chuckled. We walked through hall to a mushroom. Jumping onto it, it took us up to a bright white slide with blue prints of hawks on the top of it.

"Okay, how about no pushing this time?" I giggled.

"I'm okay with that," He replied as he grabbed my hand, jumped on the slide and pulled me after him. At the bottom, there was a huge pine desk that Death and I landed on.

"Seriously, I said not to push me onto the slide, and you _pull?"_ I said as he chuckled. He summoned Despair and the two of us rode to the end of the desk. Despair jumped over onto the other one, and did that until we reached solid ground once more. A battle between five or six Samurai Wasps against me and Death took place, and then we moved on. After a few minutes of stillness, we approached another door. Death and I walked in, and I saw my eight year old self sitting in my room, a shocked look plastering my face.

_Dynah saved my life!_ I thought. _I survived because she showed me how to escape! I didn't leave the lamp in the library, and Dynah didn't knock it over! The lamp and Dynah were upstairs when I went to bed. Dynah was in the room with me when the fire started…_

_"_I knew it!" I hissed as we walked out of the door. "Damn it…"

"Come on, if we hurry we'll be able to make it in time to see who the killer is." We mounted Death's horse and ran for what felt to be hours until we saw a pack of wasps beating the paper ants with the flats of their machetes, as if they weren't trying to kill them, but rather make them suffer. Death pulled Harvester and ran by on the horse, cutting the heads of each off as Despair didn't stop moving. The bodies fell to the ground, and we ran up a flight of stairs.

"Get to the tree, Alice." One of the living ants said. "Help our brothers!"

A waterfall was trickling down below us into a pile of clouds. The horse jumped over any gaps that blocked our way, but kept running at a steady pace. We soon saw an ocean of scorching hot oil. It steamed over red hot coals, an occasional flicker of flames. Drifting ruin's formed from it. I used the tea cannon to shoot them back into their puddles. As I put the cannon away, Death and I began to walk towards an abandoned town. Rock statues covered the walls and pine wood gazebos were scattered about with flower paintings on them. Death looked around as we hiked through. I kept my eyes in front of me, and I started to think about everything again.

"How do you even imagine these things?" he asked, making me jump.

"What? Oh…years of practice."

"It's _incredible_ how elaborate the structures are; and you can just think of something like _this…_"

"What else was I supposed to do when I was locked in an asylum?"

"I wonder why they even keep you in there. Years ago, you had destroyed the..._ bad_ side of Wonderland, if I'm correct…what happened?"

"It's a long story, and we don't have that much time."

"Tell me on the way there, then." Despair was brought to sight, and as we got on, I began to explain.

"After my breakthrough," I started. "I was able to leave Rutledge Asylum. However, I was only eight; I didn't have anywhere to go. I lived on the street for a week or two until an elderly woman took me in and tried to take care of me. I had told her what had happened, and she took me back and to Doctor Bumby. They wouldn't let me leave; they forced me to speak about my shattered memories, and convinced me that I was still insane…my madness came back. Ten years later, Wonderland followed in my tracks."

"...I... I didn't know…"

I chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. "Well, now you do!"

"Alice, you have had such a terrible past, but still have the strength to have a little fun every once and a while."

"It's just us."

He slowly slipped his mask off and pressed his forehead to mine. "Just us."

Despair kept moving as we talked. Death had his mask off for quite a long period of time, and whenever I tried to study his face, he would kiss me, so I didn't have the chance. We soon reached a circular door that snapped open, leaving a tunnel for the horse to run through. It shut behind us; through the tunnel we found the elder.

"A bridge will complete the path, but this substance has blocked the way," He said, referring to the sticky oil. "Can you two help us to remove it?"

"I believe I have the proper tool," I replied, looking at Death- who, at one point, put the mask back on- and laughing. He pulled out Harvester and ripped the oil from its place.

"Suitable enough?" He asked.

"Well…at the top of the mountain, you'll find the entrance to the next sacred cave."

Death and I dropped down, and a Menacing ruin shot out of the ground. Death scooped up the blob of oil with Harvester, splitting it in half in the process. I drowned the heads with tea, and then walked over to remove the grease. A mushroom sprouted from a grass patch in the middle of the arena.

"Farewell, former elder!" Death said as we sprang onto it. It took us at least two-hundred feet into the air, and then everything went white.

xxxxxxxx

The next thing that I began to see was a small redwood arena with and people praying. Fans flew above our heads, and they made a path. Death used his reaper form to swiftly take us across the cavern, completely ignoring the path. We then mounted Despair, and we got to an open field filled with statues of lions. From the mouths came blazing fire.

"We have to be careful." Death told me as he banished the horse. "One wrong move and-"

"Death, I created this place. I know that all you have to do is get to the entrance over there." I pointed to a staircase that had no fire to block out way. I jumped down and walked through the entrance, Death standing right next to me. On the opposing side of the doorway, there was a small ground with a doorway on the other side. We walked into it, and two different Menacing ruin walked over to attack us. Death took one, I took the other, and it wasn't long until the two were dead.

"We form a good team, don't we?" I said, wrapping my arms around his right wrist.

"We do,"

We ran through many different doors, solved different puzzles, and soon we found an abyss scattered with different cages, holding the origami townspeople trapped inside. Death and I decided to use them as footsteps to get to the opposite side of it. Once we did, one of the origami ants spoke to us.

"It's enough that they abuse and murder us; they let their spawn feed on our rotting corpses!"

"Hmm," Death murmured. I began to walk, but he stayed put.

"Come on," I pressed. No answer. He turned to his Reaper form and took off into the cavern. Using Harvester, he opened each one of the cages, setting the ants free. He landed back next to me, and then used Death Grip to pull each of the origami people to safety.

"Thank you, Kinslayer. You will forever have our gratitude." One of them said as they all scattered off as a group.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"I couldn't watch another population go extinct."

"Because…"

"Right,"

"It's just one of those things that you have to do for the benefit of all, Death."

"Yes, it is. You're right. Come on," He started to walk. I sighed, and then caught up to him. We reached another circular door. We walked through and found one more ant that was caged. That hung right in front of a huge green frog.

"You two there, come close. I can recite 'Red Riding Hood' backwards; I know my multiplication tables to elevens, I-I have intelligence."

"Really? Persuade me."

"To remove the obstruction, wake the frog and empty its belly."

"Wake that? What about its tongue? And the prospect of warts...? Anyways, how do you know?"

"I imagined how it was done while I was sleeping."

A colossal ruin jumped out of the field's floor accompanied by samurai wasps. I drew the Pepper Grinder, and then began to shoot at the heads. They caught fire, and Death started striking the wasps. Once all were killed, the frog woke up and spit something from its mouth. It crashed on the other side, forming a new pathway. Death and I ran over to it, and jumped over the small cavern. A cave filled with auburn colored, dripping stalactites was where we were walking through next. Samurai wasps were scattered throughout the caves, but they weren't much of a problem. After a long while of walking in silence, soon more captured people hung over a cavern that Death was determined to save.

"You're a good man," I told him. "I don't know anyone else who would do that. Even though this world is completely a figment of my imagination, you still take the time."

"Well, it's not exactly _just _a figment of your imagination anymore." He pointed out. I tensed, but didn't reply. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it-"

"That's alright, you're not wrong."

"Now I have a question."

"Shoot."

"You know your kin _far_ better than I do. Will they try to protect themselves?"

"I'm not sure… hopefully they will…"

We walked onto an arena where a Samurai wasp archer's shot at us. I quickly took them out with the Pepper Grinder, and then a wasp with lots of armor dropped down to fight us. We did the same thing that we did last time; Death cut a hole in the armor and I rammed the Vorpal Blade deep into its chest. On the other side of the arena was a staircase that we ran up. There was a tunnel that we quickly walked through; the skies on the other side were cherry red, and all the rocks had a different texture to them, like they were only a pastel painting. The sky got darker as we approached a large building at the top of a huge staircase that Death and I walked up.

"We came all this way to find a simulacrum?" I asked the Caterpillar's statue, who was a lot larger than Death and I.

"If I had the time, I'd detail how often you prefer dealing with illusions then the real thing. Problems with you don't exist! You deny reality." He replied.

"That's not right. I know what's real. Including the destruction of mankind!"

"No, and you allow others to tell you what isn't real, like this man. Now, both of you, come inside." The floor cracked, and we both fell into a room with a single cocoon inside. We could see inside of it, and it was Caterpillar. Not the statue, but it was him.

"My memories are shattered." I told him as Death and I walked up a steep hill to get to him. "This wicked train has ruined nearly all I can recall. And Wonderland, a-andMankind will perish completely as _I _lose my mind. So much has changed. I can't help Wonderland or the Third Kingdom if I can't help myself…"

"Much has changed. But you've got it backwards. Save both and you may be able to save yourself. The Carpenter was on to something, but he is hiding from the real. Your goal is to accept it."

"Where do we need to go then? What do we need to do?"

"The Queen must be served, you two. The Queen and all of her guises must always be served." Caterpillar told us as Death wrapped a bulky arm around my shoulders. Caterpillar began to shake, and finally opened his hazel colored eyes.

"How can she stem this growing corruption or assist my search? What does she know that we don't?"

"She is someone you once knew and loved. Time changes us all."

"Not all change is good!"

"Remember that when you find the Queen…" Everything began to collapse around us and leave the room filled with ruble. I clung to Death as I lost sight of Wonderland once more…


	12. Chapter 12

I woke lying down on a cold, hard floor. I looked up and saw two large men on the other side of bars. I was in a jail cell, but why…?

"You there, that's enough of that," A different one said as he hustled a man into a different cell.

"You're becoming a regular here, Alice." One of the men standing at my cell said. "What of it this time, Fred?"

"Howling outside the Old Lady, muttering about a murder from one of the creatures running about on Thread needle Street. Cursing insects and the National Railroad. Had to bring her in, didn't I?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A menace to herself; but no danger to others, surely. She doesn't belong in a geol."

"Too true, but then where does she belong?"

"Send her back to Dr. Bumby. He raised holy hell last time I kept her overnight… Goodnight, Alice, you know your way out."

I walked out of the jail cell as one of the men held it open for me. After I was out, I ran down a flight of stairs and got outside to see what had become of London. All I saw were people running away from a Colossal ruin, screaming as they carried their children to where they thought might be safe. But they weren't _going _to be safe. Not unless I saved them…my head rapidly began to ache and my vision went white again. I hit the sidewalk and passed out.

Xxxxxxxx

I was in another open jail cell when I had awakened. Everything was crooked; all of the cells had hands that tried to grab and pull me in as I tried to keep my balance walking. The hallway suddenly turned blood red; the bricks that held the structure up turned into blood and gore. The disgusting human tissue formed a heart-shaped pathway that I walked through.

_Death…where, why? The jail…I don't understand what's going on… _I thought to myself as I walked through the path, saliva and blood falling from the ceiling. Tentacles moved within the empty cells, trying to pull me in.

_The Queen...I don't think I'm ready to face her… _Every time I took a step, the floor made an unbearable gushing noise that made me want to vomit. I kept walking though, until I reached a piece of bone smothered in gore. I stepped onto it, trying to get a better view of where I was, and three huge tentacles came flying out of the ground. Before it could grab me, the bone that I stood on collapsed, leaving me to fall into an abyss.

xxxxxxxx

I was falling fast through the clouds. I was thousands of feet into the air, and I had no way of stopping myself. I plummeted towards nothing that I could pick out, so I just closed my eyes. I felt large, bulky arms catch me by my legs and back. I screamed for the first time on my way down.

"Alice! Alice, it's okay… It's me." I heard Death say. I opened my eyes and I let him set me down. I lunged my arms around him.

"Death! Thank goodness you're here… i-it's terrible in London! They're all terrified by the things coming out of my mind! I feel so terrible…!" My eyes began to water.

"Alice, you can't blame yourself. We have to move…do you know where we are?" He asked. I could tell he was trying to get my mind off of it, so I played along. I looked around and saw blue, cloudy skies with cards floating everywhere. I looked down and saw that we were also standing on a two of clubs.

"C-Card Bridge…" I gasped between silent sobs.

Death sighed and let me down. As soon as my feet touched the ground, he pulled me to him and took his mask off, setting his forehead over mine. "Is there _anything _I can do?" He said softly.

I moved closer to the point where my nose was touching his and closed my eyes. "I-" He pressed his lips to mine before I could say what I wanted to. My stomach began churning again, though I did my best to ignore the sensation. Death grabbed me by the waist and picked me up so I was a few inches off of the ground.

"I never replied," His lips left mine only for a moment as he said those three words. I didn't acknowledge it; I just kept kissing him. But as the next three words, "I love you." escaped, I froze. My blood turned cold, but I felt as if I was sweating. I broke the kiss and looked at him, who was already staring at me. Did he just say that, or am I hallucinating?

"D-d-did you…?"

He bobbed his head back slightly in a laugh. "You heard me right-"

"Good." I returned his lips over mine and wrapped my arms around his neck. He chuckled audibly and returned the kiss, running his hands up my back. We must have stayed like that for a good five minutes- I really wasn't keeping track at the time, because I didn't care- until he set me back down and pulled himself away. I lingered for a moment as he but his mask back on, and when he did, I lunged forwards and pulled him into a hug.

"Death?" I asked, and he looked down towards me. "After this is the Queensland…"

"And?"

"And…and it's bad."

He chuckled. "What's your point, Alice?"

"My point is that you'll be disgusted."

"That's alright." We exited the first card palace and walked on a path of different cards to a different structure. As we approached the last card kingdom and there was a blue mushroom sprouting, and Death jumped on.

_Damn it, here we go…_ I thought as I jumped onto it right behind him.

xxxxxxxx

In the other side we found a slide built entirely by cards. These ones were a lot older and looked like they've been scorched. Death and I stood, looking over the Queensland. Rotted tentacles fell everywhere, and it looked like it had been burned to the ground too many times before.

"This isn't so bad…" Death told me.

"Trust me. This is nothing." We got onto the slide, but it was shorter than the rest, do we were down at the bottom quickly. There, it was foggy but not foggy enough where we couldn't see the palace. It was completely made out of flesh; tentacles curled at the top to form a heart. Smoke covered the ground like a cemetery and the path leading to it was cracked and destroyed so each piece was at a different level throughout the cavern.

"Okay, is _that _the worse it can get?"

"Not even close."

"Hmm…"

"Back to admire your handiwork, Alice?" The Cheshire cat said as he appeared on a ledge above us. "Returning to the scene of the crime…"

"It had to be done, cat. You said it yourself; 'you and this Red Queen cannot both survive. She is a cancer in your body. Excise her, or perish.'" I replied with a smirk.

"Well, she_ was_ the face of evil in the Heart of Darkness…"

I tensed up. "She didn't treat you too well last time," I said, trying to cover it. "Lost your head as I recall."

"She was completely deranged. You picked up her crown, but now you've put it down. You must speak to her; what's left of her anyway…"

The ledge the cat was sitting on collapsed as he evaporated. Death and I jumped down to a different ledge, and heard a voice echo over the palace.

"Off with their heads…" the voice said.

"Damn it."

"Are you ready?" He asked as we approached the entrance to the Red Queen's palace.

"Death, when you enter that kingdom, you'll be disgusted. This is so much worse then back in the Deluded Depths with Barrel Bottom. This is basically the darkest side of Wonderland… maybe second."

He stopped walking and pulled me to him. I struggled for a moment, which made him chuckle. I smiled, but it took me a moment to realize that I had caught my bottom lip in between my teeth.

"I swear, Alice, you are _such_ a tease."

This made me burst out in laughter and bury my face in his chest. I could tell that he was laughing too, just not as loudly as I was. After composing myself, we walked through the door, and the underneath the dead plants, the ground began to pop up. The creature was a bloodthirsty card; his torso was cut the entire way through and it had a skull for a head. It unfolded, and then used its hands to lunge towards me. It grabbed my neck, and lifted me off the ground. I grabbed its hands in an attempt to pull them off. It didn't work, and I had no weapon.

"Death!" I croaked. He pulled Harvester and used it to cut the creatures arms of at the elbows. The card collapsed, and Death used the opposite side of the scythe to stab into its neck. My feet touched the ground again, and I reached behind my neck and stretched the fingers out to release the grip it once had on me. We walked up to the next entrance, but it was blocked by a chess piece that was stuck to the wall with some substance…The White King.

"The Red Kingdom is in ruins… but you're no better off." I muttered.

"When you defeated her, I tried to reclaim the castle. But I was set upon by her monstrosities. The malignant royal_ bitch _still reigns."

"We're here to petition here. We have to get inside."

"The only way in is through me. Sacrifices must be made."

"Those who say so usually mean 'they should be made by others.'"

"Cynicism is a disease. It can be cured. Once inside, beware of the outsize killer who patrols her domain. Never confront him; he is invincible. Now cut me loose. I'll show you the meaning of 'sacrifice.'"

"Death?" I asked him. He nodded, and walked over to the King. Harvester sliced through him easily, and his body collapsed, leaving his head the only thing still intact. We walked through the doorway, and on there was a hallway with a portrait of the Queen on the wall.

"So, that's her?" Death asked as we stopped to look at it. I nodded, and we continued on.

We soon reached a room with a few small windows and broken pillars everywhere along the walls. Card Guards jumped from the ground and ran over to us. I cracked each of their skulls with the Hobby Horse, and they collapsed. Out of the back wall, blood began to spit out of it, and a scythe came out. It was lot larger then Harvester; the handle was brass but the metal that formed the blade looked the same as his. The creature holding the scythe must have been a mutant Card Guard. Its eye sockets were occupied by tentacles that also wrapped around its neck and arms. The card had been ripped apart and stitched together plenty of times to make it look much older. It looked us and growled.

"Damn," Death said as it walked towards us. He walked up to the creature and pulled Harvester.

"Death, don't confront it!" I exclaimed, but he didn't listen. The card's scythe and Death's collided, making a horrific screeching noise that rang in my ears and made me cringe. Death's weapon bounced back, and the tip nicked the side of my face. The impact put me to my knees as I slapped my hand over the wound. Death looked back at me with guilt in his eyes as I stood back up.

"Don't worry about it now. Come on!" We ran through the other door, and it snapped shut behind us.

"I can't believe it! Why don't I listen?!" Death exclaimed, knocking a candle off of a table and into a pile of gore.

"Death, its fine. It was loud, the thing was-"

"No, Alice, I heard you. I didn't think it would've blocked my attack the way it did, I should've listened, and now you're injured."

"Death, you might not have listened then but listen now. I'm fine. Stop being so… difficult. You know what? I shouldn't have been standing so close behind you. It's my fault that I got injured."

"What's-" The mutant card busted through the doorway, so Death and I mounted Despair and started running.

The thing spun its scythe in a circle, forming some kind of deadly fan. Despair galloped through the hallway, the creature right behind us. We soon reached a small doorway that was just large enough for the two of us to get through, but not the enemy. We slammed the door shut, and sat right in front of it, holding it in its place.

"You said not to confront it, and I didn't listen. I'm too reckless, and now that has show on you! I can't express how-" I cut him off by slipping his mask from his face and kissing him. I was mad that he was so built up on self-hate and that this just made it worse. I moved to sit on my knees and wrapped my arms around him. After a few moments, I had to let go because the cut on my face started to bleed again. I pressed my forehead against his and looked him in the eye.

"How am I going to convince you that this isn't your fault?" He ripped a bandage from his wrist and pressed it to my face.

"First let me at least _try _to fix my wrong doing."

"It's not a wrong doing, it's a scratch."

"It's not just a scratch, love." Death said, mocking my accent. I smiled, which made my face hurt, so I quickly stopped. "See? It even hurts you to smile, damn it,"

"Death,"

He put his mask back on and continued his rant. "If I would've just listened! That damn creature and his scythe-"

"Death…"

"-Just block my attack like it's nothing-"

"Death!"

"-and then it bounced back and hit you in the face! I can't imagine-" I cut him off, not by kissing him, but punching him in the jaw; definitely not as hard as I could, but enough to make him get a headache.

"There, now we're even!" I exclaimed.

He looked back at me. "Thank you, I needed that."

"My god, you're going to go crazier than me."

"Alice, how many times do we-"

I moved my hand out. "Look around you, Death! If this isn't a pure example of madness, then I don't know what is. If-" Before I could finish, Death grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug,

"Listen to yourself, Alice. If I can't shut you up, then I don't know who can." He whispered. Once he let me go, I stood up, but felt incredibly dizzy due to the blood I had lost.

"Are you lightheaded?" Death asked.

"No." I lied.

He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around me, keeping me from falling. After a while, we reached an arena occupied by smaller Card Guards. Death took them out easily. From a ledge far higher up then us, the mutant jumped down. Death quickly clipped Harvester to his belt, and the creature swung its scythe towards us. Death pushed me back slightly. The scythe hit the ground in front of us, and cut a blood red hole into it that we both fell through.

Death and I hit the floor at the bottom, blood dripping from the ceiling. He stood, and then helped me up. "What _is_ that thing?"

"The Executioner," I sighed. Death snarled as an acknowledgement and we kept walking.

I heard behind us a crash, and I looked back. It was the Executioner; he had got through the same way we did. Death and I began to sprint away from the beast, and we soon got through a gate that closed right behind us. We were in a room with mo ceiling, and we watched the mutant walk up to the gate and lift it up from where it stood, breaking it from its hinges. Death used his Death Grip to grab onto a bone that was stuck into rotting flesh, and grabbed onto it. He lifted the both of us over the wall and onto the walkway on the other side. Death summoned his horse and we ran. Long minutes of silence until finally there was an arena that had a large podium in the middle. As we walked in, the Executioner dropped in from a hole in the ceiling and landed at the top of the podium.

"Be afraid…_now!"_ I heard the Queen say above us. The Executioner dropped from the pedestal; when it hit the ground, cad guards popped out of the cement flooring.

"I'll distract the Executioner, you focus on the Guards," I yelled to Death. He nodded and began to slash at the creatures. I didn't think that he would let me, but I guess he wanted to do anything to prevent me from getting hurt by him again. I ran to the other side of the field, and the creature followed me. I kept running around to prevent him from going to Death. Soon, the Executioner got frustrated, and opened two black holes in the ground, one for Death and one for myself.

xxxxxxxx

We found ourselves in a place with pieces of gore floating around us. The floor was made out of cherry red flesh and bones, and all of it was trying to be sucked into a black hole in the sky- which was the same color as the floor.

"Okay…" Death said. "This is the worst it gets?"

"Not _just _yet." I replied, worried.

"Alice, I promise you that when I see it, nothing bad will happen between us."

I didn't answer. I just shook my head and we kept walking. Every time we took a step on the ground, making a profound _squish_ every time my feet made contact with the ground. In the hallway that we were walking through, out of the fleshy ground came out Insidious ruins. But these weren't made from the original oil; these were formed out of the same gore that made the ground. I scorched them with the Tea Cannon and we moved on without comment. Puzzles that we quickly had to solve were scattered along out path, but we soon got to a platform that stood in the middle of nowhere in the darkness. The Executioner was standing in the darkness as well, but he was at least forty times bigger than his usual height, making him more massive than ever. A Menacing ruin formed, and I took it out easily. The Executioner formed another black hole that we fell through, and he returned to his original size so he could chase us down a hallway.

We fell down a slide that was also made out of the tissue, and then hit the ground to find the Cheshire cat. "Only a few find the way; some don't recognize it when they do, and some don't ever want to…" he told us. We walked through a golden door, and on the other side was a dark, fog-filled room with a fire filled door on the side. We walked through it, and I began to think…

_Lizzie hated locked rooms. Her room was farther from the fire then mine. Smoke could not have killed her…she never locked her door! And besides, she knew another way out of the house; out the window. Someone incapacitated or killed Lizzie, and then locked her door, took the lamp downstairs and started the fire to cover up their crime! Their plan was to kill us all!_

We walked back out of the flaming door. I was shocked; I had been blaming myself this entire time when someone planned for it to happen. I figured it wasn't Dynah before, but it was only a guess…I was deep in thought when I finally heard Death talk.

"Alice! Damn you, answer me!"

"What…what?"

"You've been unresponsive for minutes."

"What? No, that can't be right. We just walked out of the door!"

His eyes went blank. "Yes…fifteen minutes ago."

I didn't have a comment. He ran his fingers through his greasy hair and sighed as we began to walk once more. The Executioner's footsteps echoed in the air as well as its growling. We ran into a room filled to the border's rim with dead bushes. A few Card Guards and a Menacing ruin, waiting for our arrival. Death sliced the arms off the ruin with his scythe so I could shoot it, and then he went to take care of the Guards. Once they were killed, we walked up another staircase and got to the entrance to a garden maze.

I put my hands over my mouth as I looked at the opening. "I remember this! It hasn't changed a bit!"

"I believe this is the first piece of Wonderland that you actually _joy _to see." Death replied, chuckling.

"Well…" was all I said. We walked through the maze of dead bushes, until we came across a long hallway. Not too far through it, Death stopped.

"Let me guess…" He gestured a hand to one of the dead plant walls, and the Executioner ripped from it. He began to chase us, and we ran through the hallways. While sprinting away from the beast, Death looked at me with adrenalin in his eyes. I returned the gaze and laughed, but I began to worry. We were almost to the end…and I had no idea how Death would react; if he would take me with him to wherever he goes, or he would report back to the Council alone. My heart sped up at the thought, but I kept running at a steady pace. We soon had to turn a corner to a circular room with a stand in the middle of it with a small cake resting on top of it. It read in cherry red frosting 'Eat Me' on the top, and I took a bite.

"Death, eat some of it," I told him as I rapidly began to grow taller than him.

"I can't!" He exclaimed, pointing to his mask. I grew bigger than the Executioner who began to close in on the now small Death. I looked at the Executioner, and he looked back. I smirked and raised one of my eye brows as I gained full size. The Executioner looked back at Death, and before it could wound the Horseman in any way, I used my foot to crush it. Blood splattered everywhere, including all over Death, but he was pretty light hearted about it. His eyes were tightly closed as he laughed.

"It…just…" He couldn't talk over his laughter. He discarded his mask and took a bite from the cake. I laughed as he got taller than me in the larger size. "Damn it…" He muttered as he held his mask that was still in its normal size. I didn't know what to say, but he slipped the miniature mask into my dress pocket.

"I don't need it." He stated.

"Really? I mean, that's incredible, but I never thought I would hear it!"

"It doesn't matter to me as much as it used to." I smiled at him, and he leaned forward to kiss me quickly. We started to walk in the larger form. Harvester ripped through the Queen's tentacles that blocked our way with ease. Every time it did, the Queen screamed in pain which made me smile more and more every time I heard it. We soon reached the heart of the Red Queen that was attached to a tall tower. I looked at Death and smirked, and then ripped the heart from its socket and crushed it with my bare hands. The tower collapsed, and I looked at a small bowl containing some kind of clear substance. Carved into the bottom read 'drink me' so both of us drank some and began to shrink back to our original size.

When we finally got back to normal height, I pulled Death's mask out of my pocket and handed it to him. He set it back on, and we began to look around. Two pillars lead to a slide that was made from a fleshy stretched tongue. A pair of dentures formed a tunnel, and an eye was stuck at the top with the iris shaped as- you guessed it- a heart. Death and I jumped onto the fleshy slide; once we made it to the bottom, there wasn't a single spot on the room that wasn't human tissue. Where the slide ended, there was a fountain of blood flowing on its path.

"This," I plainly stated.

"This…this is the worst?" He replied, obviously disgusted. My head dropped and a lock of hair covered my eye. Death began to walk around through the room with a squishy noise echoing every time he put his foot down.

"This isn't going to tear us apart so easily. This is actually pretty amazing, and more to my taste…despite the fact that it's shattering your mind."

I laughed. "I'm sorry, Death, but we're going to have to destroy it."

He snapped his fingers sarcastically, and I smiled as the relief passed through me. We started to walk through the fleshy hallways of the depths of the Red Queen's palace. As we walked, we joked around until we reached a long pathway. Rotting flesh coated the alley and at the end of it was a throne. The woman who sat in the throne had short hair that was cut into straight bangs at the top; she had the same emerald green eyes as I did…

Lizzie.

"I-I was expecting someone else!" I exclaimed as I looked at the Red Queen, or my diseased sister.

**"You don't know your own mind!"** She boomed.

"It's nearly a complete stranger." I whispered to Death.

**"What you claim not to know is merely what you've denied. You've recaptured your vagrant memories; what are you doing with them?! You once rejected my attempts to control our lives ****_forcefully. _****But now you've allowed another to succeed in my role!"**

"I won't miss your tentacles."

**"You'd prefer the hot,****_ stinking_**** breath and unyielding attentions of this potent, unreasoning, unfeeling hell raiser-?!"** She yelled, using her fleshy hand to point at Death. **"I don't ****_think_**** so!"**

Death snarled next to me. "Caterpillar said you might help."

**"I'd need a better reason to respond than what's currently on offer…"**

"If you don't, then Wonderland and mankind is doomed."

**"Not doomed, ****_forgotten!_**** I may survive here in Wonderland, but you and the rest of your race is finished! You see the pattern of destruction, I ****_know_**** you do! The train is trying to destroy all evidence of the past, including the fire. Now, who would want that? Who benefits from your madness?!"**

"The destruction of Wonderland…is the destruction of me?"

**"Indeed, And vice versa!"**

"I've set it in motion, I can derail it. This is good for me! I'm not insane! I'm _fine. _I'm not mad; this 'potent, unreasoning, unfeeling hell raiser' has helped me discover that! I'm innocent- I mean, not guilty…" The Queen began to wrap her tentacles around me, not Death. "What are you doing?!"

"You _bitch,_ put her down." Death ordered as he tried to swing Harvester to cut me loose. The Queen just moved me up higher into the air.

**"Not ****_this _****time, Kinslayer!"** She said to him, and turned her attention back to me. **"The train must be stopped, but there's more to do. Your view conceals a tragedy. The whole truth you 'claim' to see eludes you because you won't look at what's around you!"**

The Queen suddenly grew sharp, jagged teeth and used her tentacles to pull me towards her. "No!" Death cried as the teeth met my flesh somewhere, and I blacked out.

Xxxxxxxx

"Can't distinguish reality from illusion. Remember your last journey?" I heard the doctor say as he and a nurse stood above me in a bleach white room. "An elephant never forgets where she left her trunk. When traveling by train, a valise… never bigger than your head. I may be wrong, your Grace, but I doubt it. Down this path of primordial ooze…"

"And indeed, Doctor, well demanded I'm sure. I mean to say, it's…very hot in here…I mean to say…_fuzzy._ And she's-" the nurse pointed at me. "-no help. Oh, no. no help at all!"

"Humiliation, I say. I approve of your release and back you come like a bad penny. Reputation in ruins! People_ talk,_ Alice! I'm an old dog that buried the bone… don't you know? Loyalty… you must never run away from home. Stay, Alice. Sit."

The two people left the room, and I looked at myself. My arms were strapped to the stained white straight jacket that I was in. I struggled to try and get my hands free. I couldn't feel the hair around my shoulders, so I looked in the mirror parallel to me and saw that the people at the asylum had shaved all of it off. I stood up on my bare feet and walked out of the square room and into the hallway. Lightning cracked outside the windows of Rutledge asylum, and rain pattered on the roof, making it echo on the ceiling. I walked into a room with trays filled to the rim with tools, and my madness began to come over me. I bent over in pain, and my vision went out only for a few moments.

Bloody screws were drilled into the bleach white ceiling that was now blood splattered along with the rest of the floor. I tried to keep my balance as I walked out of the blood stained room. I was back in the olive green hallway and turned a few corners. I soon reached a room with a hospital bed in the middle, and I leaned against the cushion to keep myself from falling again. I closed my eyes, and the same thing happened as before. Blood dripped from each of the walls and the rooms got darker through every step I took. I walked down the hallway and saw more people with headsets on, screaming at me as I walked by. I ignored all of them until one tried to attack me as I walked through the door getting myself out of the asylum…

xxxxxxxx

The street lights flickered as I stood underneath them. I was back in my normal dress; dark brown with a white bow in the back and striped sleeves, and my hair was grown back. The night was so foggy that I needed the street lights to move around. After walking under a few of them, I found a small girl. She looked about five at the least, and half of her body was sliced off. She crawled around on her torso, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

"Help, Alice! We need your help! Don't desert us again. Don't _ignore_ us…" She cried.

I sat on my knees and held my hand out to the child. "Why do you suffer? The Queen's tyranny is just a memory. She has no power over you, does she?"

"Our enemies come and go, but now a new evil reigns. And this fiend's malevolence has eclipsed the conquered Queen's…" Once the child said that, her head fell to the floor and she died.

"Large words for such a small child…" I said to myself. I sat down on the ground, buried my face in my hands and groaned. I was so frustrated that this was happening. I looked up for a brief moment, and saw a flicker of flame in the darkness. I stood up without peeling my gaze from the fire, and began to walk towards it. The light grew bigger and bigger until I felt the warmth so hot on my face that I had to stop moving. I looked out, and saw that the flame was coming from my old house. The flame that had killed my family.

"Alice?" I heard Death say from inside the house.

"Death!" I cried back.

"Alice! Alice, help! I'm burning!"

I couldn't take it anymore. "No, not you too!" my eyes began to water.

_"Alice!"_ He screamed one last time.

And that was the last thing that I had heard.


	13. Chapter 13

Bright white clouds rolled in from the horizon, making the place look like it was about to rain. Colorful houses were built around everywhere as far as the eye could see. The ground that I stood on was completely cloth that had been stitched back together many times. I looked around and saw the Dollhouse.

"Death!" I yelled, making the name echo. I heard someone come up behind me, his arms tightly wrapping around my waist and his bulky chin rest on the top of my hairline.

"Hello," I heard Death's raspy voice whisper, making me smile.

"You're not-!" I cut myself off and lunged my arms around him. He returned the hug, lifting me off of the ground in the process. After a few moments of hugging, he set me down and we started to walk. By the look in Death's eyes, I could tell he was thinking again, but I couldn't tell about what. I followed in his tracks though, and started to think myself. The child that I had met in London had told me that a new evil had reined Wonderland. I was curious to who it was. Or at least _what _it was.

"I'm not what?" Death said, making my head snap up as we walked through a tunnel.

"Oh, nothing." I was going to say that he wasn't burning, but I didn't want him to think I was crazy…even though he won't admit it to him that I am mad.

"You refused to tell me your last vision. At least tell me this one."

I sighed. "It's nothing… it was only a bad dream after I had escaped from-"

He narrowed his eyes. "From where?"

"...The asylum."

"They…they're keeping you in an asylum on earth?"

"Yes."

He sighed and shook his head in disapproval. "Let's go," I pressed. "That train isn't going to stop itself."

We walked through each and every dollhouse that we came upon. Walls closed to make arenas, and we soon came across what looked like some ones back yard with chalk floors instead of grass, and doll heads scattered everywhere to make it look like the rubbish chute back in the Hatter's Domain. Drifting ruins were scattered about throughout the place. I used my umbrella to bounce the deadly crystals back at the creatures, killing them. The door to one of the houses snapped open, and four small girls came skipping out. But each of them had some kind of unnecessary surgery performed on their faces. Blood dripped from the stitches that held their heads together, and nails screwed in their cheeks held their lips in a smile. I looked at the girls blankly as Death and I walked up the stairs, getting closer to them.

"The unstable are more than merely mad," The girl in the middle spoke. "The Dollmaker will deprive them of what is left of their deranged souls. They need _care!"_

"I know their pain…I would assist, but is sanity required for the job?"

"A limited quantity. You're not mad enough to be rejected. You're like them, of in a way, but not them. I should say 'not us' because I'm them…but you are on your way. The way is clearly marked."

"I believe we know that way and I'd rather not travel further along it."

The little girl pointed in a different direction. "It's here, dimwits! Get inside!"

The door snapped shut, leaving Death and I the only ones. I looked in the direction that the girl was pointing to. The figure I found myself looking at was a doll. It held half of a pair of scissors in one hand, and had a hook instead of a hand in the other. It had brunette hair that was pulled back into pigtails, with bangs evenly spread across her forehead. The creature had no eyes, just empty sockets. It walked toward us, laughing annoyingly high pitched.

She swung her half scissor at me, and Death used Harvester to block her attack. He threw the Dollgirl's scissor across the field, and she turned her focus on Death instead of me. I ran over and grabbed the scissor. The doll used her claw to make contact with Death's scythe, and they were fighting to see who would give in. I shook my head and chuckled, and then I rammed the scissor through the doll's torso. She fell to her knees, and Death clipped Harvester back to his belt.

There were a lot of puzzles that we had to solve in the Dollhouse. Some involved mushrooms, trying to reach a certain place at a certain time, or just using Death Grip to cheat our way through. We traveled through hundreds of dollhouses; some that were empty but filled with furniture or some that had tables piled to the top with sweets. Children's blocks were what we used for stairs, and most every single one on at least one side had an eye engraved into it. Each wall was different, but they all had one thing in common; the ugliest wallpaper I had ever seen that was burned at the corners. Obstacles were scattered throughout our journey, including decapitated dolls swinging on our path with rusty nails stuck sharp side out. So, basically, we were screwed if we touched one.

We carefully moved through the place. We soon found ourselves in a room that had been singed and torn apart, but some of the floor had been preserved. A Menacing ruin and a Dollgirl had turned a corner, and ran to attack us. The Dollgirl came to me, and the Menacing ruin went to Death. I drew the Vorpal Blade and blocked as many of the doll's attacks as I could before I fell. She held her scissor to my neck, to the point where it began to bleed, but before she could go any further, I kicked on or her porcelain legs out, shattering it. The doll screamed in pain in fell to the side. I stood up and looked over the doll as she lay on the ground. I smirked, and then used my food to crush her porcelain head into pieces. I looked at Death, who was still busy with the Menacing ruin. I chuckled, and then grabbed the Pepper Grinder. When Death's head wasn't in the way, I shot the last doll head from the ruin, making it collapse.

"I was fine, love." Death teased as he walked back toward us.

"You were, but I just thought I'd help you. Come on," He looked at me, but then saw the slice on my neck.

"What's that from?"

"What? Oh, the doll."

"Hmm." Death growled.

"It's fine, forget it."

He stopped walking to grab a piece of cloth from his forearm and he wrapped it around my neck, tying it in the back. "You don't want it to get infected, Alice."

Once he finished, I smiled and looked down. We were almost to the end…and I didn't want him to leave… "Thanks…" As we traveled, I began to slip into my thoughts.

_Would he want to leave? I don't think so…_ I thought. _He won't share his past with anyone but me…but this was only an assignment…I guess I'll find out. But I don't want him to! I love-_

"Alice, stop!" I heard Death exclaim, and I jumped back.

"Hmm? What?!"

"Alice, you weren't paying attention. Look,"

I looked down and noticed I was a step away from falling off of a bright green plank of wood. I took a few steps back and ran into Death. He chuckled and pulled me closer. I set my hand over his and turned my head all the way to the right so I could see him. He had pulled his mask off when I didn't notice, and he didn't hesitate to kiss me. I returned it with a sense of panic in my gut. I tried to savor it as long as I possibly could. When he broke the kiss, we jumped off into the next dollhouse. Before I thought about anything else, I knew I had to tell Death what I had imagined.

"After I escaped the asylum, I imagined you were burning."

His head jerked towards me. "What?"

"Yes, I know,"

"Alice… you know that would _never _happen? I'm too smart to die that way."

My heart started to race. "I know… I get worried, I suppose."

"Don't be. I'm not dying anytime soon Alice, I _promise_ you."

I smiled, and we kept walking. With every step we took, the light got darker and darker. The buildings were drained from its color, so they only looked like different shades of gray. The sculptures were drained as well, and we soon came across a slide. This one was made of glass that had dust built up on the bottom. Underneath were razor sharp spikes that held the glass in its place. As we slid, the glass cracked behind us.

"Damn it!" Death yelled as the slide began to collapse. I started to think about my family- which now was always some kind of escape for us- but it didn't do anything. Fortunately, the slide ended and we landed on safe ground. It was the same here, everything looked more evil. There were statues that were cased in glass of different body parts; one was an eagle head with a human ribcage standing on dolls legs, some of them were cracked doll heads that were being tortured with hammers locked into their skulls. As we ventured through the place, we came across a room with two Dollgirl's running around inside. I was about to draw my blade, but Death stopped me and handed me half of his scythe.

"Try again." He stated as I grasped the handle. He continued on to attack one of the others, and I tried to pick up Harvester. The Doll wounded up, and then as it swung, somehow I managed to flip the scythe up with all of my strength, and blocked the attack. I started to walk around it, using all of my force to keep it off of the ground.

_Damn, this thing is heavy…_ I thought. _You know, that really angers me. Death is so much stronger than I am, mentally, at least, since there's no doubt physically. His family died. He didn't have to be locked in an asylum…_

_"No!"_ I yelled. I put all of my anger into the scythe, and it moved faster than I have ever seen Death move it towards the doll. The blade ripped the dolls head from its socket, and it rolled onto the ground. The body collapsed, and I let Harvester rest on the ground. I rested my elbow on the top of the handle, and looked over to Death. He had killed the doll a while before I even picked up my scythe, and I guess was watching me the entire time.

"Why did you yell 'no'?"

"I didn't." I lied.

"Then I'm crazy."

I paused, then gave in. "No, you're not…I did. I just got frustrated."

"Yes, I know. When I wield Harvester, it gives me this angry jolt that makes me want to fight even more. It probably did the same thing to you."

"Really?"

"No. that was a complete lie."

I laughed, and punched him in the shoulder. I handed him his half scythe back, and then we kept walking. Walking for what seemed like forever, but completely silent between the two of us. We came upon more Dolls, taken care of easily. We came across more puzzled, quickly solved by the help of his Death Grip. Anything we came by was easily fixed.

So we could reach the end.

We came across the last fiery door. We walked through it without a word spoken and I began to remember…

_I had a role in my family's demise, but I did not start the fire. Centaurs don't live in Oxford, but a certain doctor did. I saw him; a preening and an undergraduate. Now I remember him! That key belongs to Lizzie's room!_

"Alice? Alice, what happened in there?" I didn't reply, I just started walking. He caught up to me, but he wouldn't let it go. "Alice, answer me."

"Bumby!" Was all I said. I was so incredibly infuriated by the fact that Doctor Bumby, the man who has tried to get me to forget for all of these years, was the man who began it all.

"Bumby? You don't mean he was the one to-"

"Started the fire." I finished for him. Death clenched his fists so tightly together that his nails dug into his palms.

Xxxxxxxx

Dolls were strung everywhere like Christmas lights, moving along the line. It was the darkest I had ever seen it as the dolls kept on their track. We walked above the Infernal Train, in which was stopped in its tracks. We slowly walked up a small staircase, and I stared at the thing in front of me. The creature was insanely tall, had ice white skin, wore circular glasses, had brunette hair, and the same oil as all of the previous ruins plastered to his chin, forming some kind of beard.

"Am I not the most wretched and selfish of fortunes fools?" I exclaimed at the odd copy of Dr. Bumby. "Oblivious, I live in the training ground for _prostitutes!_ My mentor is an abuser and a purveyor! I've been complicit with my sister's murderer and the killer of my family as he corrupted my mind! I sought relief from my pain and you turned me away from the truth!"

"You were almost there," He replied, his voice corrupted. "Almost free from what you fear. You could have been cured, you could have forgotten!"

"Abandon the memory of my family?"

"They're dead, and you should be too…" the thing said, making Death growl under his breath and take a step forward in that protective manner.

"You…misbegotten abomination! Murderer! You bloodsucking parasite! The damage you've done to children…the _abuse!"_

"I provide a service. In the great and awful metropolis, appetites of all sorts must be satisfied."

"My family…my mind…the Infernal Train!"

"The train is your invention, your demise. I merely set its schedule and itinerary. _The train is coming with its shiny cars. With comfy seats and wheels of stars. So hush little ones and have no fear, the man in the moon is the engineer…"_

"We'll stop that train, even if it's the last thing _I _do!"

"As you wish…it will be." The thing grabbed me with its scarred hands, and pulled me away from Death. He dropped me into a hole on his desk; I heard Death's yells of protest, but they were cut off by the sound of the man's hand hitting him. A tear fell down my face at the thought, and I blacked out.

xxxxxxxx

Snow fell from London's cloudy skies. Books and pieces of broken cement dancer around in the air, and I walked. Slower and slower as I saw ghost children running around on the streets. Each one had a number strung around their neck, and I cupped my hands around my mouth so I wouldn't yell. I walked down and saw Doctor Bumby standing, waiting for a train to come.

"You oozing sore of depravity! Children wearing their names around their necks as if they were breeding livestock!"

"A declaration of their pedigree. You could use one, they're proud to display their provenance!" Bumby replied as he turned around, a smug grin on his face.

"You _brute!_ They can't remember _who_ they are or _where _they're from! How many minds have you twisted into forgetfulness?"

"Not enough! Yours would've been a triumph. Still, you're an insane wreck. My work here is done…"

xxxxxxxx

I woke up in the hole that I was thrown into, and it began to drain. I fell out of it and crash landed on the infernal train. I felt Death come up behind me and help me to my feet again.

"Death!" I exclaimed. "The Dollmaker-"

"Yes, but I landed on the train. Hurry, we don't have much time!"

Death and I ran through the train cars until we found the Mad Hatter. "Hatter, you must help us stop this train and the evil force that drives it!" I yelled.

"Everything's a nail, is it Miss Hammerhead?" He began. "First it was your search, freighted with fear and fragmented memories. Now it's the train! Never time for tea! While  
your brain's on holiday, we're ruined. Now, we're all mad here. And that's a good excuse for going to hell in a teapot, but not for forgetting your senses. Oh, for getting's just forgetting. Except for when it's not. Then they call it something else. I'd like to forget what you did. I've tried, but I can't…"

Death disappeared from my side, as did the corrupted Wonderland around me.

xxxxxxxx

"You have used me, abused me, but you will _not _destroy me!"

"No? The damage is done. The old Alice and her Wonderland retreat are demolished. You can't even recognize what's happened. And you're powerless to change it or move it against me. I've made certain of that…"

xxxxxxxx

Back on the train, Death and I found Caterpillar. "Come to receive your punishment, Alice?" He asked. "Abuse is the crime the strong visit on the weak. And you're right, abusers are insufficiently punished for the damage they do. Those who witness abuse without seeking retribution for the harmed pay a penalty…"

xxxxxxxx

"You corrupted my memories, but you've failed to make me forget!" I was almost screaming, my voice echoing through the tunnel.

"I could have made you a _tasty_ bit!" He replied. "Clients out the door waiting for a price from a raving, delusional beauty, with no memory of the past, or no sense for the future. But, you insisted to hold on to your fantasies. You're mad! Like your sister-"

"Do_ not _speak of her! You didn't know her!"

"Your sister was a tease. Pretended to despite me. She got what she wanted…in the end." Bumby then held up the key to Lizzie's room…

xxxxxxxx

**"Make your survival****_ mean_**** something, or we're all doomed!"** Was the only thing I heard the Queen say.

After that, most everything was a blur. We got into a room that was completely incased, but not for long. The Dollmaker ripped the ceiling off of this place, and he was in the perfect position to strike. Death drew Harvester, but I waited. I didn't think the Vorpal blade would do much. The Dollmaker used his boney hand to try to strike us. I dodged his attacks, and Death tried to strike at the same time. At one point, he did injure the hand; he used the scythe to rip one of his fingers off.

The Dollmaker screamed in pain, and then I drew the Vorpal Blade. I didn't want to just stand around and watch Death do it. As the Dollmaker's hand lunged towards me, and I rammed the blade into his knuckle and then moved out of the way. He screamed again, and before he could retreat his hand, I ran up and yanked the blade from his hand. He screeched again, and then used both of his hands to attack Death. In a state of panic, I only slightly saw it. The beast's tongue was made completely out of oil, and scattered along it were doll heads.

_That's it! _I brought out the Pepper Grinder and began to shoot at the Dollmaker's open mouth. One by one, the heads caught fire. He screamed, but kept trying to attack Death. More and more heads fell from his mouth, and then crashing against the arena floor. Once the last one was shot off, the Dollmaker retrieved his hands and fell backwards. Off of the train. The Dollmaker died, and I found myself back in London...

xxxxxxxx

"I'll see you_ charged._ In prison, some half-wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart…and then you'll _hang._" I hissed.

"Indeed? A hysterical woman, former lunatic, roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable social architect and scientist. My god, Alice, who would believe you? I scarcely believe it myself."

"You…_monstrous _creature! Such _evil_ will be punished!"

"By whom? By what? Psychotic, silly bitch. Your madness will be punished! Now leave. I'm expecting your replacement."

I turned from Bumby, but didn't start walking. I focused for a few moments, and then I turned back around. When I did, I found myself wearing my blue dress and the blood splattered apron that I've been wearing in Wonderland. I looked to my left, and there stood Death, staring right back at me. I smirked, and we both moved in on Bumby who began to back up, almost into the train tracks.

"Who the hell is that?" Bumby asked panicked as a train was coming.

"Just some stranger," I replied, then I used my foot to kick Doctor Bumby onto the train tracks, and he made contact with the train's front, cracking the glass. Once he was gone, Death and I slowly walked back up the tunnel steps with my hand tightly wrapped around his, praying that he would never let it go. Once we reached the top, London's dull, brown buildings seemed to be lightened with color. The grass turned the green that it was in the Vale, and the skies were bright blue. We walked to the end of the hallway, and Death spoke.

"So…" He said, trailing off.

My heartbeat got faster. "So,"

"Alice, you have to come with me."

"What?"

"I couldn't take it. You _need _to come."

"Death...you know the Council will never allow it. Plus, what about your brothers? I would become a laughing stock in front of them... and they would never take their big brother seriously, would they?" I explained, even though I wanted to come with him more than anything else in the world.

"You're right." He admitted. "I'm sorry. But if only you could."

"How do you think I feel? I'm going to be alone in London." I unfastened the necklace from my neck and handed it to him. He grasped it, but he wasn't brought into a nightmare. Death summoned Despair and put the necklace around the horse's neck with the charm up.

"Now you know that whenever I'm with Despair, I'm thinking of you." He told me. Before he mounted, I took his mask off and pressed my forehead against his.

"I love-"

"-you too," He cut me off, and it make me giggle slightly. I pressed my lips against his for a long moment, and then reluctantly let go. I shoved his mask into his ribcage like I did in the Tundraful, and he grinned. Another tear fell from my face as he mounted his horse.

"Don't die!" I teased.

"Not without seeing you again." And that was the last thing he said. Death and Despair disappeared, leaving a green mist behind them…

**X-**

_"Well I was there on the day  
they sold the cause for the queen,  
and when the lights all went out  
we watched our lives on the screen.  
I hate the ending myself,  
But it started with an alright scene..._

It was the roar of the crowd  
That gave me heartache to sing.  
It was a lie when they smiled  
And said "You won't feel a thing."  
And as we ran from the cops,  
We laughed so hard it would sting…"  
-Disenchanted, My Chemical Romance


End file.
